In my trawling of various websites that sell Japanese notebooks, I’d often noticed a lot of listings for “household account books.” I figured using a notebook to track household finances must be common or traditional in Japan, but I never knew the full story behind it until I finally decided to do some research and … Continue reading Kakeibo: Japanese Household Account Books
A few years ago, I went to an exhibition of art by Karla Knight, but for some reason have never gotten around to posting about it til now. Her work is very interesting, full of strange symbols and spacey-looking shapes. But of course I was especially intrigued since some of the exhibition included notebooks! I … Continue reading Karla Knight’s Notebooks
Isn’t that just the best headline ever? It kills me that this story didn’t include a photo of the actual notebooks! It is a story that is, literally, as old as the hills, yet its history can be traced in just eight small notebooks. The accounts ledgers of Victorian bookkeepers in the upper Dales, meticulously … Continue reading “Old notebooks that open a window on lost world of Wensleydale cheese”
Such an interesting article from Atlas Obscura. I’d never heard the term “zibaldone” before! ONE DAY IN VENICE, SOMETIME near the end of the 14th century, a busy merchant found himself with a few spare moments. Maybe it was a slow day at the docks, or he arrived home too early for dinner. Whatever the reason, he … Continue reading What’s a Zibaldone?
I go through phases of being extremely disorganized as a blogger. People email me cool tips and sometimes I don’t get to them for a while, and then sometimes I am not sure whether I’ve used them or not. And in the case of this post, someone emailed me all these great photos, which I … Continue reading Notebooks from a Mental Hospital
An excellent article at LitHub by Bradford Morrow, author of the just-published Prague Sonata, among other books. Really interesting look at a writer’s process and why he prefers physical note-taking to digital methods. Big thanks to reader Raymond for sending me the tip! “My memory is good, but capricious at times. My scraps of paper … Continue reading Bradford Morrow’s Boorum & Pease Ledger
An absolutely gorgeous page from a journal belonging to Antonio Lopez, a Puerto Rican fashion illustrator whose work is being celebrated with an exhibition at the Museo del Barrio in New York. I love the mix of elements on this page– the old fashioned ledger with numbers and notes then covered by these elegant drawings… … Continue reading Antonio Lopez’s Journal
Theodore Roosevelt kept field notebooks on his travels, including the ones pictured below from a safari trip. He seems to have had a talent for sketching the animals he saw… and shot! :( See more at: Pages from Theodore Roosevelt’s field notebooks recording animals killed on safari
This is extremely cool: a catalog from 1911, featuring all manner of notebooks and other stationery. The only thing that could be cooler would be if you could find some forgotten warehouse that still had all these products in stock! Flip through the whole catalog at Catalogue of stationery : section no. 1, blank … Continue reading 1911 Catalogue of Stationery
Very cool– on the Tate Museum’s website, you can flip through one of Edward Hopper’s sketchbooks: I love the way you really get a feel for the sketchbook as an object rather than just disembodied drawings. See more at Edward Hopper: Sketchbook Viewer | Tate.
