In my post about Denbigh notebooks, I linked to a site that had a photo of a Denbigh notebook from the 1960s: Drew Family Diaries. These diaries are worth a post of their own! Roger Drew created a website to share this amazing collection of diaries kept by members of his family, starting with his … Continue reading The Drew Family Diaries→
Several years ago, I reviewed a classic Scottish notebook: the Alwych Book. I bought mine at a shop in New York, but I think they’ve always been easier to find in the UK. However, thanks to some unusual web traffic coming to my review, I noticed that it seems like they may be getting hard … Continue reading Alwych Notebooks Discontinued?→
Papersmiths is a stationery shop with branches in London and Brighton, UK, and online. I have been following them online for a while, and actually ordered some Bindewerk notebooks from them a few years ago, when I was having trouble finding them in the US. It was lovely to hear from the team at Papersmiths … Continue reading Papersmiths Notebook Review→
I’ve bought a couple of Oxford notebooks on my European travels, as they are much more prevalent in shops over there. Someday I’ll do a full review, but my quick take on these is that they are nice-looking pocket notebooks that feel well-constructed and have great paper, the same Optik white paper used in Black … Continue reading Deal Alert: Oxford Signature Notebooks→
What is a barrister’s notebook? That is what I found myself wondering when I recently read a PD James mystery set in the colorfully traditional world of the London criminal court system. (See Crown Court, Old Bailey and Inns of Court for more background.) I noticed a mention of a certain type of blue notebook … Continue reading The Barrister’s Notebook→
This little gem has been sitting in my to-be-reviewed pile for 3 years now! Alwych is a Scottish brand with a long history. I’d read about them online and was lucky enough to come across one for sale in a fun store in Brooklyn called Dry Goods, which unfortunately closed just a couple months ago. … Continue reading Review: The Alwych Book→
I was in London a few months ago, and while the trip wasn’t my best notebook-spotting adventure, I did see a few interesting items. At Foyle’s, the huge bookstore on Charing Cross Road, there is a nice selection of stationery tucked in shelves by the registers on the 2nd floor. I thought the Puggy’s Best … Continue reading London Notebooks→
The blogger at Palimpsest does us all a great service with a fantastic series of posts about favorite stationery shops around the world, mostly in Europe. Each is well-documented with photos: Evripidis in Athens, Greece: Pen to Paper in Brighton, UK: I love visiting stationery shops when I travel. Even though the major brands like … Continue reading Palimpsest’s Stationery Store Series→
Yet another proprietary brand notebooks, this time from UK office supply store Ryman’s. I keep thinking there must be just a few factories in China that churn out identical notebooks and people just slap their own branding on them! This one looks like it has a soft, smooth cover similar to the Monologue notebook I … Continue reading Ryman Notebook→
Notebooks, journals, sketchbooks, diaries: in search of the perfect page…