This unique item was a Christmas gift to me from one of the few people who knows I’m obsessed enough with notebooks to write this blog. Of course I was thrilled when I opened the wrapping paper and saw it: The notebook is about 4×6″, with what appears to be a hand-painted suede cover. … Continue reading Western Suede-covered Diary from 1949
Here’s a notebook that I liked so much, I had to buy three of them. I still love the concept of these: the look of a composition book in a different size. I’ve always loved the black and white patterned covers of the traditional composition book, but I have not usually wanted to use something … Continue reading Early 1980s “Comp” Pocket Memo Notebooks
Here’s something that will ring a bell for many of you, as it did for me. It’s amazing how you can lose track of your tidying up when you get lost in the memories that old notebooks conjure up! So here it is another new year, and here I am once again, picking up and … Continue reading Notebooks that Lead Down Memory Lane
I spotted Wild & Wolf’s Qwerty line of products in a local store and just loved the idea: notebooks and other products with old style typewriter motifs! I contacted the company and they were kind enough to send me not only a sample Qwerty journal, but another funky notebook as well. Let’s take a look: … Continue reading Review & Giveaway: Wild & Wolf’s Qwerty Journal and “I Am the Notebook of…”
Here’s an oldie but goodie, which is one of the earliest notebooks I ever used. I wrote the addresses of my friends and family on some pages, but also just used it for notes and doodles, and as a repository for some awesome Star Wars stickers! Many of my notebooks from this time show an … Continue reading Small Address Book, mid-1970s
Here’s an interesting article– not about notebooks in itself, really, it brings up some interesting questions about how people “recycle” vintage imagery for stationery and other products.  Two young women in Cincinnati are testing the fringes of Fabulous Fifties nostalgia by selling reproductions of 1955 police mug shots. And their company, Larken Design, … Continue reading Notebooks Featuring Old Mug Shots
I was very flattered to receive an email from this week’s addict, as she is a highly-regarded children’s author whose books I was already familiar with– the kind of person I’d usually want to ask about their notebook usage, but be too shy to actually do so! Candice wrote 3 blog posts a few months … Continue reading Notebook Addict of the Week: Candice Ransom
A reader named Colin sent me photos of a fascinating notebook from his collection: I thought you might like to see a notebook that dates back to 1938 when my parents rented a flat in Sliema, Malta. The rent was £3.10.0 per month [£3.50 in modern money] and the ink has survived amazingly well over … Continue reading Colin’s 1938 Notebook
This seemed like an appropriate notebook for today: Actually, the contents of this notebook are anything but romantic. My mother gave it to me in 1981 and asked me to keep a diary while she was away for a couple of weeks, helping her sister with a newborn baby. I dutifully chronicled everything I did, … Continue reading Happy Valentine’s Day!
Here’s an exhibit I plan on checking out in the near future: “The Diary: Three Centuries of Private Lives,” at the Morgan Library in New York. The exhibit includes these lovely items: A diary jointly kept by Nathaniel Hawthorne and his wife, Sophia Peabody Hawthorne: John Ruskin’s chess diary: You can see more images in … Continue reading Morgan Library Exhibit: “The Diary”
