What are your top 5 notebooks?

[millybrook]

I'm curious to see what people have on their list.

 

 

 

 

[CharlieB]

Moleskine

Rhodia

Clairfontaine

Black N Red

Paper Blanks

[lefty928]

Clairfontaine

Moleskine

A5 size Xonex Ru (new favorite)

spiral bound sketchbooks

 

.......................

 

Rhodia or Black n Red

 

 

 

... still searching for the Perfect One

 

 

[BruceW]

Clairefontaine 9540 (14.8x21 cm, clothbound)

Clairefontaine 9606 (11x17 cm, clothbound)

 

That's pretty much it.

 

I want to like Moleskine. Love the design. But NOT friendly to wet nibs.

Like the looks of Paperblanks & Brownlow but not willing to put out the cash and find the same result as Moleskine.

 

 

[scratchy]

In the UK there is a notebook maker called Paperchase and I have been obsessed with their notebooks for at least 5 years. I particularly like the A4 spiral bound polypropylene covered squared paper version.

 

[Grog]

Clairefontaine regular

Clairefontaine "forêts vertes/Forever" (their new "eco" paper - less smooth, I don't dislike it)

Rhodia

Apica

 

That's it.

 

 

[knitbug]

Anything by Ecojot

It's Canadian-made, from ***recycled*** paper, and fountain pen friendly. It's awesome enough like that, BUT you get some ultra hip covers too!! Stumbled upon these at the campus where I work, and doodled on a test page with a fp while waiting in line - it was love at first write! Ha, I made a pun

 

Here is their website: http://www.ecojot.com/

 

Everything from plain ruled paper to the most funkadelic designed notebooks.

[inkypete]

Clairefontaine and Rhodia streets ahead of the rest but I have to order from US making them an expensive luxury. But that quality is just wonderful.

 

Pukka from the UK is available here but only a small range. Excellent value.

 

Moleskin continues to disappoint paper wise.

 

Paperchase just becoming available here but again only a small range. All a bit girly for me design wise and overpriced.

 

Campus products are fantastic but limited range here. Great paper.

 

Apica - about to order from Molly so I will report soon on my opinion, but if they are typical Japanese quality they will be great.

[WhosYerBob]

Clairefontaine

Rhodia

Black n' Red

Apica

Moleskine

[krandall]

 

My all-time favorite notebooks are:

 

1, Maruman "Libretto" and "Boston Note". These notebooks are 8.3" x 11.7" and they use fine vellum (I think) paper (ruled both narrow and regular). The bad news is they are made in Japan and the only place I've been able to find them is in a wonderful stationery store in Japantown in San Francisco (where I live). I've seen, but not used, the Moleskin products, but my problem is that I am a writer (as in novels, nonfiction, poetry books) and I need the most bang for my buck space-wise and a notebook that lies flat. If anyone knows where to get them on line PLEASE email me. I can find them on Japanese sites by Googling Maruman, but I haven't found any way to order them.

 

2. Kokuyo. Another Japanese product with more great ruled paper inside, although not as quite as fine as the Maruman. I've searched for these elsewhere as well also but without luck. The ones I use are only slightly smaller than the Maruman ones.

 

3. Alvin. These pads (reporter/steno style) are without a doubt the finest. They come ruled or quadrille in a multiplicity of sizes and are available through Amazon and are even cheaper at The Fine Art Store directly. This paper makes your pen glide. I'm not crazy about the top fold-over style but there is an ingenious design that allows the tablet to lie flat; it is creased in three places at the top to allow this. The one I use is No. ALG18.

 

For me as a constant writer it is imperative that my notebook fold and lie flat on both sides, so I need a twin-wire binding. If anyone can find the Maruman or even an Alvin twin wire notebook around 8x11 that has to be bought in bulk, I'm willing to go in on it with you. My friends think I'm nuts. They will read one of my novels and then call me up and say, "Tell me you didn't write the rough draft with a fountain pen." I tell them of course I did and that was even more fun than seeing it on bookshelves.

[girlieg33k]

Whitelines

Apica

Rhodia

Clairefontaine

Black 'n Red

 

I'm hoping to find the Ecojot notebooks and try them out as well. I received a letter from an FPN penpal on the Ecojot paper, and it looks very promising.

[millybrook]

people seem to be consistent with their top choices.

 

[penhound]

Claire Fontaine

Rhodia

Levenger's Notabilia

Crane & Co. (Graphic Images blank leather bound journals w/out embossed cover.) My Morning Pages book

Moleskine

[Sousy]

I love the Rhodia/Clairfontaine paper, but would like a 'hardback' style journal. (Not the paper cover notebook I've been able to source locally.)

 

I'd probably go for the ePure, and might consider the Renaissance Art covers for Rhodia/Clairefontaine notebooks whenever they release those on the general public.

[krandall]

Claire Fontaine

Rhodia

Levenger's Notabilia

Crane & Co. (Graphic Images blank leather bound journals w/out embossed cover.) My Morning Pages book

Moleskine

Just got my Black 'n Red 8 x 11 twin-wires and the paper is terrific. I've tried all my pens on them and I think I'm in love. And they're only $6.50 USD!

[Bill]

Black-n-Red

Container Store "white cover" (A5 size)

Rhodia

Readables Naturals

Barnes & Noble "Moleskine" clone

 

 

 

[Velma]

Maruman "Boston Note"

F.O.B Coop spirals

Pantone spirals

Kokuyo spirals

 

And back in the 1980s, Xonex made a small spiral bound book with narrow ruling and fountain pen friendly paper; I used those for my journals from 1989 through 1996, when I used the last ones I had (they'd stopped being sold in 1991, but I ran around the city, buying as many as I could). I still miss them.

 

I also like Letts of London perfectbound books, when they're narrow ruled, and there's a Chinese company called Winnable that makes fountain-pen-friendly perfectbound journals that are decent looking and not too pricy.

[Hélène]

Clairefontaine

Kokuyo

Rhodia

Moleskine

Ecojot

Paperchase

 

I know this is six but two are owned by the same parent company (Clairefontaine/Rhodia)

[NateEssex]

Would someone mind linking to the actual product they really like? Economical suggestions are always nice

 

 

[Titivillus]

I'm curious to see what people have on their list.

 

Apica

Apica

Apica

Apica

Apica

 

 

Kurt