Looking through this forum I am slightly surprised that nobody has mentioned the venerable English watermarked paper Basildon Bond. When I was sorting out our writing bureau the other evening, I found a pad of A4 size BB in one of the drawers. Judging by the packaging it was 1980s vintage; it had been bought by my wife, probably when she was a student (we met at university).

I had a go writing on a couple of pieces and found it was quite pleasant to write on. Not Earth-shattering but quite pleasant with my Parker Vector. The pad comes with a writing template and a sheet of blotting paper as well! A nice surprise.

Best wishes

Bruce

Wow. I've never heard paper refered to as venerable before. It sounds nice. Is it part cotton? Is it still made? I like papers with more sustance (tooth) for dip pens rather than fountain pens and this sound like it could be that sort.

There's some on ebay right now (in the UK). :
http://cgi.ebay.com/1970s-Boxed-Blue-Basil...1QQcmdZViewItem

P.S.: I don't plan to bid on it.

Basildon Bond is quite good paper - a heck of a lot better than some of the other commonly-found 'Fine' papers around.

A very tiny amount of feathering occurs with some inks, but this is only evident if you really look. My supply is about three years old. I always keep a few pads handy - it's not my paper of choice, but it will do very nicely indeed.

One thing I really like is the obscure size - 229 x 178mm. This is larger than A5 (210 x 148mm), and also slightly larger than a standard Crane & Co half-sheet (215 x 165mm). The Basildon Bond size feels rather comfortable to write on.

Thanks for that link jbb, I had not thought to search ebay for it.

Yes, Basildon Bond is still made, though no longer at the original mill in Hertfordshire which like many historic sites here in England seems to be destined for housing redevelopment.

Try this link from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dickinson_Stationery

Ha!

Devizes, greetings from Chippenham...

I seem to recall that Basildon Bond was also the "secret" agent portrayed by the "comedian" Russ Abbott.

Hi! Chippenham, greetings from Devizes.

Good old Russ Abbott. Laugh? I thought I'd never start.

Best wishes

Bruce