A very poignant article from the Sept. 1, 2019 New York Times: Waiting for the Monsoon, Discovering a Brain Tumor Instead. The photo of reporter Rod Nordland’s journal was what caught my eye, but the whole story is well worth reading. A few brief excerpts below, focusing, of course, on the journal, though there is … Continue reading A Journalist’s Monsoon Journal
Many people have the problem of loving notebooks but not knowing how to fill them, as described in this article by Claire Swinarski: As a writer, I’m often gifted journals. I’m also a total sucker for beautiful notebooks and can spend way too long perusing the paper section at Target. That means I’m the owner … Continue reading What if You Love Journals but Hate Journaling?
Some of my favorite images from artists’ sketchbooks are from Eugene Delacroix’s travel notebooks. A new book now translates his notes into English for the first time. In 1832 the 34-year-old Eugène Delacroix, already well known for his Orientalist works, accompanied a French diplomatic mission to Morocco and travelled through Algeria and Andalusia. His exposure … Continue reading Delacroix’s Notebooks, Now in English
I always love seeing articles about writers’ archives. I’d love to go through some of those boxes and see all the notebooks within, even if I haven’t read that writer’s work! Saul Bellow is an example… I haven’t read his books, but he left an extensive archive including lots of notebooks, one of which is … Continue reading Saul Bellow’s Notebook
A gorgeous example of a natural historian’s field notes. This belonged to August F. Foerste, an American geologist and paleontologist. From the original article at the Field Book Project website: Field notes are well known to be essential, primary material that provide details about collections and expeditions that aren’t found in published material or specimen … Continue reading August F. Foerste’s Field Notebook
I recently reviewed the excellent pocket notebook from Pebble Stationery. Now they are back with a new Kickstarter project for a larger A5 size notebook, in the same design with Tomoe River paper, which I’m sure will be a popular item! The campaign runs for just 2 weeks, from June 25th to July 9th. Deliveries … Continue reading New A5 Notebook from Pebble Stationery
This is my latest favorite find in the “Artists’ Facsimile Sketchbooks” category: Hilma Af Klint Notes and Methods. I saw it for sale at the McNally Jackson bookshop in NYC and it’s full of lots of great reproductions of full notebook spreads. I saw the Hilma Af Klint exhibition at the Guggenheim a few months … Continue reading Hilma Af Klint’s Notebooks
Sometimes I see a notebook and just think, “Ugh. Why??” Here is an example: A notebook dedicated to composing Twitter tweets in 3 drafts? I guess it could be a good gag gift for someone but otherwise it seems like a waste of paper to me! If you disagree, you can buy one here!
My Modern Met interviews a talented artist whose notebooks are a constant companion as he travels the world. Adam Hackländer’s travel journals have a style very similar to (and probably inspired by) José Naranja’s notebooks: In the age of everything digital, Hackländer’s handcrafted keepsakes offer a more deliberate and thoughtful form of remembering his journeys. … Continue reading Adam Hackländer’s Travel Journals
I came across an article from The Economist about a new exhibition at the British Library, which sounds great: it’s all about the history of writing and note-taking. The article is behind a paywall, unfortunately, but here’s a taste: NEATLY HANDWRITTEN, with a simple diagram below a numbered list, the sheet looks like any fussy … Continue reading Writing Exhibition at the British Library