A reader recently wrote to me with the following question: “I have been looking for a particular kind of notebook for quite some time. I see them more in movies than anything, and examples include JFK and the most recent Captain America movie (see pic below). It’s very similar to the one you have posted … Continue reading Boorum and Pease Brown Taped-Spine Notebook
I thought it would be fun to have a whole week of posts about an old brand of notebooks that used to be ubiquitous and now has become almost– but not quite— extinct: Boorum and Pease. They started out as an independent manufacturer of blank books based in Brooklyn, but since then, they’ve been absorbed … Continue reading This Week’s Theme: Old Notebooks from Boorum & Pease
Oh the wonderful things you can stumble across online… an old notebook with transit maps of Paris! I love the composition book look, typography, and the design of the maps! Very cool… if this online auction hadn’t ended long ago, I would have snapped it up! “Carnet format 10 cm x 16,8 … Continue reading Notebook with Paris Transit Maps
Back in 2008, Sotheby’s auctioned a private collection of various papers and memorabilia belonging to the Belgian singer Jacques Brel, who died in 1972. The notebook below, probably from the 1950s, was used by Brel for draft song lyrics, and was estimated to sell for between 50,000 and 70,000 euros. It’s a nice looking notebook– … Continue reading Jacques Brel’s Notebook
This is just a small part of an article in which Paul Zahl talks about the movie Super 8: Recently I came across ten little notebooks, notebooks for a person’s breast pocket, which I used for my to-do lists during the Winter and Spring of 1972-1973. I was a recent college graduate and quite confused, … Continue reading Old Roaring Spring Notebooks
Since today is the Martin Luther King holiday, it crossed my mind to wonder if I could find any photos of notebooks he used… and sure enough, I did! And it’s quite wonderful. As described on the King Center’s website: “Contained in this notebook is a draft of Dr. King’s statement to Judge James … Continue reading Martin Luther King Jr.’s Blue Spiral Notebook
A cool story from the Manchester Evening News: Angela Prince, 74, found the dust-covered notebooks while clearing the attic of her aunt and uncle’s attic in Partington. They appear to be written by children of the Hall family, who ran the medical herbalists Hall’s Hygiene in Salford until the 1970s. Retired secretary Angela, who … Continue reading World War 2 Diaries Found in Attic
I just love this. A beautiful old notebook with wonderfully drawn little sketches. I’ve come across a few other examples of these T. J. Smith’s “metallic memorandum books” online (and posted about one here). I just wish I’d find one in a junk shop somewhere so I could own one of these treasures myself! Read … Continue reading The Sketchbook / Memorandum Book of W.G. Read
This is amazing! I’m not surprised they sold for over $3,400! From the listing: Andrew A. Ryan Police record, 1899-1920; 1 ledger, 23 notebooks (4 x 6 in.). The work of a detective in a turn of the twentieth century U.S. city was nearly as difficult and dangerous as it is today, with murders … Continue reading Early 20th Century Police Detective Log Books
Here’s a drool-worthy item that some collector has probably already snapped up: From the description: “The writing in the book includes “This Old Pocket Book & Pencil was given to me by my Father about the year 1882 and in the following pages I have recorded some of the events of my Life, places … Continue reading 1880s Memorandum Book