It's finally happened and I apologise if you already know, but a few days ago I noticed that a UK online seller of Rhodia pads is selling an A6 Moleskine style notebook with elastic enclosure in black or orange.

Very cool except that this seller only sells them 10 at a time They are about £5 a piece (US$10).

I am assuming that it wil be the standard quality Rhodia paper, but it would be annoying to buy 10 notebooks to find that I am wrong.

Has anyone had one of these in their hands? What is the paper like? Is it the usual excellent Rhodia.

If I win the lottery I am going to set myself up as a Rhodia outlet and sell them one at a time or more if you want.

Hello,

what seller is that? Could you perhaps post a link? (Not that I am willing to buy 10 notebooks at a time... And did you mean A6 or A5 by the way.)

Thanks, Zed

Good call, Zed. If'n we can find a seller, I'd be willing to bet that a group order might sort of materialize out of nowhere!

Here

I have also asked TWDPens if he plans to stock them. We desperately need a decent distributor selling Rhodia pads. I am sure that these things would walk out of the warehouse on their own.

Well, it looks like the seller has both A6 and A5 sizes - but why is he willing sell only 10 of them is beyond me. How many people are willing to buy journals for £86 at once. Even though I know I go through them relatively quickly I still would not buy more then 4 or 5 at a time...

Oh well, at lest I know that the future is bright - that is rhodia orange. If only the seller got a bit more reasonable! Or I am going to nag Anna and Martin Roberts from the writing desk from whom I buy my stationary online to get these rhodias...

One more time, thanks for the find Andy, Zed

By the way is TWDpens the same the writing desk - it stoke me only now that it probably is...

I have spoken to Bureau Online about their pack sizes before and they described themselves as a small company who couldn't hold the whole range in stock.

Yes TWDPens and The Writing Desk are one and the same. I have enquired about the A6 Rhodia pads with them.

It frustrates me that I was born gorgeous instead of rich (cough cough). I would quite happily stock Rhodia products and sell them as single items. Moleskines paper really is poor in comparison to Rhodia paper so I am sure that there is a market amongst the paper lovers, those that hate the marketing hype of Moleskine and those sensible enough to want to buy a better product cheaper than the moleskine equivalent, currently £9 for a Moleskine and £5 for a Rhodia. No competition really.

I am covetuous! I wonder when these will make it to distributors in North America?

Probably long before we get them in the UK

And we only live around the corner!

That looks very promising. But I wish they were the exact same size as the Moleskine because I am in love with the gfeller cover.

A Moleskine-type notebook with Rhodia paper sounds like the answer to many prayers. I think these notebooks will be very popular and make their way to the USA soon. However, I noticed on the website that the notebooks come with lined paper only, not graphed. That's a minus.

That's okay. I'll take yours.

I take it these are a new to the market? It seems like it would have to be only a matter of time before a dealer willing to sell them in normal quantities would pop up. Given the devoted following of both Moleskine and Rhodia notebooks, it seems that something that is effectively somewhere in the middle would do pretty well in the marketplace.

I'll buy some. Sign me up!

These look great, I want some! but preferably fewer than 10 :-)

Me too, there is no way I am going to buy 10 at a time.

why don't we get together and split an order of 10? I'm happy to buy them if others are willing to buy a few and cover the extra postage. who has the link to the vendor?

Here you go:

http://www.bureau-online.co.uk/products.asp?partno=CF/118060

I'm in for at least one! ! ! I have been waiting for Rhodia to put their paper in a moleskine style book! ! ! !

Whooo Who!

Is there anyone in the UK with a business that would be willing to set themselves up as a Rhodia stockist? I am absolutely convinced that there is a market here for these notebooks in smaller quantities and in a wider range than we can get at the moment. I would take 5 of the A6 pads straight away and if the paper is the standard quality Rhodia paper I would take 5 of the A5 ones as well. Prefer black, but orange would be acceptable too.

I also use the Rhodia No 15 (300 page A5) pads in lined and grid and one of the A4 pads that I can't lay my hands on at the moment, but is also in the grid pattern.

oh this is very fun! i would very much like to get in on a group buy if someone is arranging one! PM me or point me to the thread!

I would certainly buy a couple if there was a UK stockist!

PS.
Has anyone tried the WH Smiths version, its not on their site, but I saw it in their shop today and it looked pretty good:
Ebay Moleskinalike

This is indeed a very cool Rhodia item!

I checked our very recent (last 30 days) stock list of Rhodia from Exaclair, the US Distributor and the new moleskine style Rhodia is NOT listed. I just sent an email to Exaclair asking if they were considering bringing them in and to let them know that there was a lot of talk about them, so might be a good idea. It's Saturday, they get to take the weekend off, so it will be Monday earliest before we hear anything back.

The Bureau Direct notes that these are "Special Order", also that the paper is ivory which is unusual for Rhodia. So perhaps because it's a new item, they're treading the waters gently. We do that too sometimes because you just never what is going to be a good seller and what is not and in this day and age, getting stuck with a bunch of stuff languishing on the shelf is not a good. I know 10 might sound like a lot to some of you, but think about how much shipping is for one ... probably as much, if not more than a single notebook. Just some thoughts .....

I'll let ya'll know if I find out anything about these being available stateside.

Best regards, Sam

The Writing Desk already stocks Rhodia, though they don't list these 'Moleskine clones':

http://www.thewritingdesk.co.uk/showcat.ph...mp;cat=notebook

It may be they would be interested.

- Stuart

I think I see it on the Art Brown web pages, too, for those of you who are searching for this item in the United States or elsewhere on the "proper" (heh) side of the Atlantic pond.

Here's what I did. Google: "buy Rhodia".

This seemed to take me to the Rhodia / Clairefontaine corporate site, to a page of links to online retailers. It included lots of places I'd heard of before.

Thing is, I wasn't 100% able to confirm that a given listing of a given Rhodia pad was actually a "covered" and elastic-bound Rhodia pad, or just the old staple-bound one. I'm sure you could confirm by means of phoning a given retailer.

Just to be clear, we're talking about an A5 pad "just like" the Moleskine pad ... has its own hard covers, an elastic closure, etc.; but it has Rhodia paper instead of Moleskine paper, right? That does indeed sound nice.

Wait, what's the diff between A5 and A6 ... or was that a typo? Oh dear, details details ...

The A6 is 95mm by 140mm and the A5 is 145mm by 210mm they each have 96 sheets of Rhodia 80gsm lined paper, a hard backed leatherette cover, elastic closure strap and an inside pocket.

Yes, I have asked them already, but didn't really get a yes or a no!

I sent the Bureau an email, asking whether these notebooks are also produced in graph/squared paper versions, and here is the reply:



Argghh, there go my hopes. I would have bought ten if they had the squared. I go through these things at the rate of one per month.

: (


QM2

Just had an interesting email from Martin from www.thewritingdesk.co.uk to say that they will consider stocking the Rhodia Webnotebooks when placing their next order.

If he doesn't I have a possible line of credit to set up as a Rhodia stockist. The drawback is that I live on a remote island and it would add to my shipping costs.

Let's see what happens

I'll pop over to the shop that used to be Bureau's shopfront tomorrow afternoon and see if they have any on display. If so, I will relay details.

That is interesting. I might email them too and let them know I would buy some. Can't hurt for them to know that there is a ready market.

Ooh! Well done. Some indication of the paper quality, assuming that they have one unsealed would be good. I somehow rather doubt that they will have any in stock though.

I popped into our local Staples today and discovered that they sell moleskine books in the A5 and A6 sizes.

I'm away for a week on holidays with no computer and I come back to this wonderful news - so much can happen in a week. A moleskin look alike with Rhodia paper? Heaven.

It really is a simple recipe and I can't understand why a company like Rhodia/Clairefontaine don't already have a range. A4, A5 and A6 in a moleskin style black cover, elastic closure, quality paper, mid market price point = perfect notebook.

Any more news from those folk on the hunt? Anyone actually seen this Rhodia book yet? I am just a smidge worried about the different paper although I doubt Rhodia would compromise their reputation with a non FP friendly stock.

I have one, but it's not Rhodia, it's Quo Vadis, which as those of you in the know will realise is also a subsidiary of Clairefontaine (whose 150th anniversary was yesterday, the manager of the shop informed me).

I told him that there was a bit of clamour online for the rhodia version, so he might put an order in for some, but I personally went ahead and paid ten quid for a red Quo Vadis version. They are called Habanas. I will write a proper review in its own thread, so patience my dears.

Later...and here's the review.

Yippee!! Martin fro www.thewritingdesk.co.uk will be stocking these pads. I hope that he doesn't mind me mentioning it! Too late now!!

Of course my hopes of being a millionaire from selling these pads to disgruntled moleskine users and paper fetishists will be blown!

Just goes to show it pays to ask

Mind you, I did cast a spell over them...

- Rincewind

That is great news

Can't wait to order some, I don't suppose he has given any idea when they might be in stock?

These books look strikingly similar to the Journey notebooks already offered by Exacompta and available at the Pear Tree Pen Company. Other than the name, the primary difference appears to be the existence of the hidden inside pocket, a la moleskine.

Incidentally, I just spoke with the Rhodia distributor here in the US and they do not import these Webnotebooks into the US at this time, and indicated there was no present intention of doing so. Bummer.

James

On a Rhodia in UK, I have noticed that my local branch os Paperchase has a very small selection of these classic french notebooks.

But I didn't see the moleskine style model, just some traditional graphpaper orange covered notebooks.

I wish I had a little stationary store, as Rhodia would definately be on my list of required brands, along with perhaps Noodlers ink...

Any other suggestions people?!

Orangesam. These notebooks are very new. I think that the best bet for us in the UK who don't want to buy ten at a time is to wait for Martin at The Writing Desk to stock them.

No affiliation to The Writing Desk, just an impressed customer.

here's the official page: http://www.bloc-rhodia.fr/Rhodia-BOUTIQUE/...bnotebooks.html

Thanks for the link. It's a shame they didn't add the dimensions.

Russell at Nota Bene told me that he has all four sizes/colors ordered and he'll email me when he gets them.

It comes in two sizes: A5 and A6.

They're all normal lined though. Damn, I'd have gone for some if they had been available in plain or seyes. I might even have gone for 10 as ordering packs from Bureau usually works out quite a bit cheaper than buying a few from TWD.
If the soft journals came in A5 I'd try one as well but I don't like anything much smaller than A5.

Rhodia doesn't offer many products with séyès ruling.


Note: Our prices include postage . We're happy to quote for bulk purchases.

Martin

edited to understand my accent(s)

forgive me if I missed this somewhere.... but, I see the UK options here.... but no chance for us in the US? The link for the UK shop said that they don't ship to the US. Am I reading this right? There is no hope for us????

Sorry, I should have said the covers! I have an A5 moleskine and an A5 moleskine copy here and the covers are different sizes meaning that I can't use my Ren-Art cover on one of them.

If The Writing Desk can't help, and to be honest the shipping costs here are much more than the US so it would be a costly affair, isn't there a Rhodia shop in Canada that stocks the whole range - Rhodia Drive(?)?

Sam at Pendemonium said they are not yet available from the US ditributor but they are working on it. Pendemonium will stock them as soon as they are available in the states.