The History Of Composition Notebook

[Mangrove]

Has anyone looked into the history of the composition notebook? I have personally handled several from the beginning of the 20th century but I wonder when was the style introduced? I mean classical marbled paperboard covers with glued and ruled label. Some French ones are dated from 1886 onwards. What I have read from period documents, the standard writing paper weight back then was only around 50-60 gsm. If my memory serves me correctly, paperboard production really started from the mid-19th century onwards.

[mboschm]

Miquelrius still makes them in Spain.

[trent]

We've wondered about this in other posts. Some of us wrote to Roaring Springs and other American makers of marbled comp books for historical information, but we did not receive replies. It is a fascinating question.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Miquelrius still makes them in Spain.

 

So do many other makers in the USA and elsewhere, but that wasn't the question.

 

I love comp notebooks, and would also be interested in knowing more history.

[Mangrove]

I browsed through all digitized Alexander Graham Bell's family papers from 1875 onwards and the first one "classic" notebook with what looks like a self-glued white label over marbled cover is dated January 1883.

Edited December 10, 2012 by Martti Kujansuu

[Octo]

Two have come down in my family, both from the mid 1800's in the USA. They were probably purchased in Kansas. Neither has a marbled cover, but they are like modern composition notebooks in all other ways. I wonder if the marbled cover originally signified a single company?

[Mangrove]

Two have come down in my family, both from the mid 1800's in the USA.

 

May we see a photograph or two of these books? Meanwhile here's some findings from the eBay. It starts to seem to me like the real mass production of the classical notebook started in Europe and Americas during the late 1870s or early 1880s. Ledgers seems to have been one of the first use of the new format.

Old 1872 Slocum Township Luzerne Co. PA. -l Tax Assessment LEDGER

1880 Apothecary Journal

1883 Slocum Township Luzerne Co. PA. Tax Assessment LEDGER

[Dino Silone]

 

I love comp notebooks, and would also be interested in knowing more history.

Ditto, and ditto. They've become my all-around favorite thing to write in.

[Octo]

Two have come down in my family, both from the mid 1800's in the USA.

 

May we see a photograph or two of these books?

 

 

Yes. Unfortunately, the books are now possessed by another family member. I have requested photos and will post here when they arrive.

[ink mixer]

Thanks for starting this thread. I was always wondering when lined notebooks came into being.

[Octo]

Here are the photos. The notebook is the same size as a modern composition notebook and has the same blue horizontal lines and red vertical margin lines. Traces of the red and blue marbling on the cover still show, but are not the same pattern as the black currently used. The notebook was kept by a farm family and records income and expenditures, planting of seeds, when and where animals were bred, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 13, 2012 by Octo

[Ethereal Winter Wind]

You americans are lucky to have composition books, in Australia we don't have them and I only learnt about them after visiting this site. What we have in Australia are "exercise books" which are either A4 or A5 and bound by only 2 staples instead of your durable stitch binding, making standard australian notebooks crappy.