What Are Your Top Three Favorite Notebooks?

[JayHomeBody]

I have always wanted to get my hands on a leuchtturm A5, but they're just too expensive! Ditto with a good sized Rhodia notebook. But I have a small Clairefontaine notebook in french ruled, and I have a few scrapes of Tomoroe River paper! That Tomoroe River paper is so gloriously smooth that I'd probably kill to get a good, thick, lined notebook of it, but once again it's on the pricey side.

[RazorJack]

1. Oxford, Optik 90 g, A4 lined.

Daily use at work. Ultra white, very fountain-pen friendly and affordable.

 

2. Rhodia, Dotpad no 16.

Regular use for messing around with fountain pens and inks at home :-)

 

3. Rhodia, Rhodiarama lined A5, black cover.

Occasional use, for taking notes at formal meetings.

[tisse98]

Rhodia Heritage Raw Binding Notebook, B5 (19x25 cm) size.

[El Gordo]

Since I write _a lot_ during a work week, price matters. I'd like to try a Nanami Writer (with that many pages, it's not that more expensive than buying multiple cheaper ones), but can't find them anywhere.

 

 

Check meerleuks.nl

[bitflogger]

One of my 3 is missing and a sign of the times. I live in a (or was) paper making part of the world and the University Of Wisconsin book store used to have their own branded notebooks from area paper companies that were good. The smaller paper mills and paper companies that had a lot of products have disappeared. From childhood through the 1990s the university book store always had cheap notebooks that worked well with fountain pens.

 

When the university book store changed and chain stores showed up I started using Oxford Black n’ Red.

 

I’ve used Atoma on and off since some time in the 1980s.

 

It surprised me to see a lack of subjects or posts on the Black n’ Reds but I see them mentioned here. I guess I’m not so alone finding them to be an overall decent product.

[MHBru]

Black and Red is a great notebook and I like them because they use white paper that shows ink color and come in a thread bound A5 size. Clairefontaine and Rhodia are also in my lineup and all Get used. I'm not particularly if comes to my daily notebook but for meeting notes it's the 90g Rhodia Meeting book every time... Mostly because it's one of the few that comes in a Cornell style layout

[Honeybadgers]

One of each format

 

Scribbles that matter A4 graph

 

clairefontaine french ruled a4 wirebound

 

Tomoe river a5 dot grid

 

Black and red makes great paper for fountain pens, but they ONLY make notebooks that are lined, and their paper is a little too white for me, so on balance (I'm using one of them for my french class right now) I think I'm going back to clairefontaine french ruled.

Edited April 8, 2018 by Honeybadgers

[mabuckit]

Franklin Christoph Firma-Flex, Rhodia Webnotebook, Seven Seas Writer. In that order

[pepsiplease69]

Correction: #2 should be "WhiteLine", not "Life Line".

 

(Note to self: Stop posting during cocktail hour)

 

Mary

I cant find Correction #1

[RPB]

In no particular order as I am always changing between them....Design.Y from Japan; Nanamipaper Seven Seas Writer in both sizes; William Hannah A5 notebook from UK.

[Runnin_Ute]

In terms of notebooks, I have

 

• Apica CD5N for a great little shirt pocket notebook.
• Leuchtturm1917 A5 - I have used it with wet ink/nib combinations and don't get the bleed through/show through that others mention. Color me fortunate. I get mine from Goulet.
• Red N Black A4 - recently has been the wirebound versions, but I have hard bound as well. Like others have said, available at OfficeDepot and other big box.
• Rhodia - top bound both A4 and A5. I prefer the dot grid over some of the others. I saw some A5 at a Container Store location a couple of months ago.
• Made in Brazil composition books - The Brazil's are getting harder to find however. (Office Depot or OfficeMax) Haven't tested the Egypt and Vietnam books much yet. For a cheap book I like these.
• Tomoe River - I buy loose sheets of A4 sized 52 gsm cream 100 to a pack. I have been buying from Goulet. If I want to use A5 I just tear in half.

[SpecTP]

I've bought rhodia and leuchtturm in the past, but once I got seven seas writer's journal that was it. I have not changed journal type over several years.

[jameswatts]

A few years ago, Staples produced a line of bagasse legal pads that were EXCEPTIONAL! Imagine a fountain pen friendly onion skin. Write the bulk of two plays on these pads. Of course they stopped producing them.

 

These days, the paper I find myself drawn to include:

 

Kukuyo Campus notebooks

 

Baron Fig Confidant (the company's Squire rollerball is pretty sweet, as well.)

 

Staples ARC.

[mars37]

I really like smooth, glossy paper, and at the moment I've got only two I'm really satisfied with:

 

- Midori (Traveler's Company) Lightweight paper

- Apica CD notebook

 

The Midori lightweight is quite similar to the Tomoe River paper, which would be on my list if I could get a ruled A5 notebook.

Apica isn't perfect for me, I favourite paper is (besides Tomoe River) Clairefontaine, but none of their notebook bindings work for me. Apica isn't as glossy as Clairefontaine but it's quite a good subsitute.

 

Life Note was glossy too but their notebooks wouldn't lie very flat either, and their paper is just too yellow. I don't mind cream paper, but theirs is just yellow, almost orange.

[magnus919]

I have always wanted to get my hands on a leuchtturm A5, but they're just too expensive!

 

Seriously? In the US these are under $20 on Amazon. As notebooks go, it's pretty darned reasonable!

 

Just, whatever you do, don't buy the Master. Not a fountain pen friendly notebook like the smaller sizes.

[magnus919]

I've bought rhodia and leuchtturm in the past, but once I got seven seas writer's journal that was it. I have not changed journal type over several years.

 

The inventory issues are really disappointing. This seems true of a lot of the small shops. Lots of products in the online shop, but only a few are ever in stock.

 

Oh call me crazy... I'd love an A4 notebook with TR paper.

[katerchen]

 

The inventory issues are really disappointing. This seems true of a lot of the small shops. Lots of products in the online shop, but only a few are ever in stock.

 

 

And of course my hoarder gene kicked in and despite having 3 unopened Writers I dare not start using them, because what happens if there aren't going to be any new ones

[Karmachanic]

 

And of course my hoarder gene kicked in and despite having 3 unopened Writers I dare not start using them, because what happens if there aren't going to be any new ones

 

You'll be in the same position? You won't have a Nanami Writter to write in.