What Is The Fascination With Moleskine?

[KellyMcJ]

I don't get it. Can someone explain this to me? What IS the fascination with this stuff?

 

Everything I read says it's horrible paper, that everything soaks through like blotter paper. The one Moleskine journal I have seems to have pages that are so heavily coated that ink BEADS UP on it and just about the only thing that will write on it is ballpoint.

 

However people continue to buy this stuff. Or is it just that people are giving Moleskine journals as gifts and we have to find a way to use them? Is it a personal challenge? A thing to have around to specifically to test the limits of your ink?

[Bluey]

There's fascination with it? Nah. I think it's part of the hype machine that they've generated. "Did you know that Ernest Hemingway used moleskine, and you too can write superb novels if you used it too".

Out of every 10 fountain pen users that I've heard the opinions of, 1 says it's ok and the rest say it's binworthy. Personally I think it's binworthy as it feathers horribly and is a lot worse than even the cheapest of the cheap paper I can get in Poundland and Wilkos etc.

 

I think it's mostly gift material from great aunts.

Edited August 18, 2017 by Bluey

[Mister5]

I think in the FP community it has a poor reputation, but quite frankly if I didn't use a FP I have no beef with Moleskine. It's widely available and the quality is good enough for BP/Pencil.

[Studio97]

I find Moleskine paper to be fussy when it comes to fountain pens. I like the size a5 and a6 and because i am a serious bargain hunter i have a big stack of both. On one ebay buy as low as 1 to 2 dollars each. Retail is ridiculous. I also use excellent ballpoints, pencils and rollerballs. I test different pens and inks on the last page and find what works best for that particular notebook.

I do like the black covers and some red. I have one blue van goph. I prefer blank pages but use lined also. Both sizes are used for journals. I like the pocket . But they have to be at a bargain price. As an artist i like their sketchbooks and watercolor books but still look for a good deal 75 percent or more off.

I prefer plain black journals, classic style. There you are.

Edited August 18, 2017 by Studio97

[CharlieB]

Moleskines are great little notebooks, but they work best with ballpoints. They work for fountain pens only if you use an EF nib with a fairly dry ink.... and write on just one side of the page.

[chaik76]

I don't use Moleskine with fountain pens. But I LOVE the notebooks. They come quad ruled, the paper is actually nicer than many, many other notebooks, they come in multiple sizes, they come with covers I like. They're convenient. Some of them actually fit in girl jean pockets (I hate carrying a purse). I've tried similar notebooks with less success. Moleskine is good because it's decent quality for the price.

 

I'm new to fountain pens as a writing instrument. The only type I've used is calligraphy pens until recently, but dip pens can work with Moleskine (I use dip pens to write almost everything). In general, most papers aren't made to suit fountain pens, which I'm finding frustrating as I absolutely love paper and have favorites I've used for years...that aren't going to work if I'm trying to use fountain pens. (I'm actually in this section to find something comparable to the journals I use that will work with fountain pen...and comes quad ruled.)

 

eta: I write on only one side of a lot of my notebooks...though not the moleskines. I'm completely curious now, and am trying out my fountain pens (of which I own only a few) on my moleskines. No beading so far, and feathering only once. However, there is definite bleeding so that you can only write on one side (this was in a daily calendar moleskine). That still falls into my "acceptable" category, though I'm totally open to suggestions for 3.5" by 5.5" and 5" x 8.5" quad/graph ruled notebooks that are more fp friendly!

 

eta2: I'm having trouble getting a photo to load to my computer, but I just used one of my quad-ruled moleskine notebooks and only got showthrough, but no bleedthrough on everything I used. I was still able to write on both sides.

Edited August 18, 2017 by chaik76

[cattar]

I use Moleskines and $1 composition books and 'better' notebooks.

And now I'll be shopping on ebay.

I tend to use drier fine or italic nibs with Sailor and Waterman inks and haven't had a problem.

 

Showthrough doesn't bother me. Bleedthrough and feathering mean an ink has to go.

 

I don't use soft nibs or wet nibs on the Moleskines, but will use those nibs on $1 composition books and 'better' notebooks.

My favorite paper - Apica. Next favorite - Leuchtturm, Pen&Ink...

[dapv]

I like to write on both sides of a page. For wet ink, an extra-fine FP nib with not a generous feed and dryer ink, or an extra-fine rollerball have been okay for me. BPs, Gel, MPs work good for me except that the pages are thin and so I need to have a soft touch in order not to engrave the page. I would say Gel and .007 or greater MPs work best when using Moleskines. Also, I prefer the hardcover, and for me the pocket and the large sizes are most handy, and I would pick the large if I were picking just one. Lastly, for me they are the most easy to find, and frequently discounted, thus I generally use the formats on sale which adds variety to the aesthetics.

[inkypete]

Moleskin are great marketers and in some ways this has helped the notebook market in general. But all my experiences have been poor in terms of FP friendliness. never again for me but in all fairness they do not market Moleskin as FP friendly.

[fjoly79]

the fascination with Moleskine? yes as mentioned by Bluey earlier, writers such as Ernest Hemingway (there might have been others) did use to use them. But Moleskine quality took a dive when the company decided to have the notebooks and paper made in China, with much inferior paper quality. Those are facts.

The sketchbooks offer good paper quality for those who want to used them for drawings.

I don't use Moleskine anymore, and now replaced it with Leuchtturm 1917, the next one might be Rhodia...

Edited August 18, 2017 by fjoly79ink

[macaddicted]

It’s the Mont Blanc of journals.

 

<duckbehindsofa>

[inkandseeds]

There's fascination with it? Nah. I think it's part of the hype machine that they've generated. "Did you know that Ernest Hemingway used moleskine, and you too can write superb novels if you used it too".

Out of every 10 fountain pen users that I've heard the opinions of, 1 says it's ok and the rest say it's binworthy. Personally I think it's binworthy as it feathers horribly and is a lot worse than even the cheapest of the cheap paper I can get in Poundland and Wilkos etc.

 

I think it's mostly gift material from great aunts.

 

Actually, Ernest Hemingway did not use Moleskine. The company that made the journals used by Hemingway, Picasso, and others in the Moleskine ads used a notebook made by a French company that went out of business in the 1980s. The notebooks were called carnets moleskines, but that was not the brand. The Moleskine notebook of today was created by an Italian company in 1997. Clever marketing.

[Bluey]

 

Actually, Ernest Hemingway did not use Moleskine. The company that made the journals used by Hemingway, Picasso, and others in the Moleskine ads used a notebook made by a French company that went out of business in the 1980s. The notebooks were called carnets moleskines, but that was not the brand. The Moleskine notebook of today was created by an Italian company in 1997. Clever marketing.

I'm only going by what moleskine have claimed.

http://www.moleskine.com/gb/moleskine-world

 

"The Moleskine notebook is, in fact, the heir and successor to the legendary notebook used by artists and thinkers over the past two centuries: among them Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, and Bruce Chatwin."

 

 

A quick dig further into it

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2012/jun/19/joy-moleskine-notebooks

'Except there is no real connection to Hemingway. Moleskine was created in 1997, based on a description of the beautiful, bound notebooks the travel writer Bruce Chatwin bought from a French bookbinder before it closed down. An Italian company Modo & Modo recreated it, sold it at a premium price and describes it as a "legendary notebook". "It's an exaggeration," Francesco Franceschi, co-owner of Modo & Modo told the New York Times in 2004. "It's marketing, not science. It's not the absolute truth."'

Edited August 19, 2017 by Bluey

[inkandseeds]

 

I'm only going by what moleskine have claimed.

http://www.moleskine.com/gb/moleskine-world

 

"The Moleskine notebook is, in fact, the heir and successor to the legendary notebook used by artists and thinkers over the past two centuries: among them Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, and Bruce Chatwin."

 

 

A quick dig further into it

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2012/jun/19/joy-moleskine-notebooks

'Except there is no real connection to Hemingway. Moleskine was created in 1997, based on a description of the beautiful, bound notebooks the travel writer Bruce Chatwin bought from a French bookbinder before it closed down. An Italian company Modo & Modo recreated it, sold it at a premium price and describes it as a "legendary notebook". "It's an exaggeration," Francesco Franceschi, co-owner of Modo & Modo told the New York Times in 2004. "It's marketing, not science. It's not the absolute truth."'

 

This week, i was reading David Sax's book The Revenge of Analog in which he discusses the creation of the Moleskine, which is where the information in my earlier post came from. Yes, it is marketing and hype like so many things today.

Edited August 19, 2017 by inkandseeds

[inkstainedruth]

It’s the Mont Blanc of journals.

 

<duckbehindsofa>

 

I'll admit that I was a bit miffed when the local Barnes and Noble stores stopped carrying Ecosystems notebooks and journals (which were fairly FP friendly) in favor of Moleskine. Because frankly, for what you're getting, Moleskine notebooks are EXPENSIVE (one of the local stores also had a carousel of Rhodia pads for awhile but that's gone away as well (at least I can still get *them* -- but not in every size -- at a local art supply store and a couple of stationery stores in the area, plus Birmingham Pens carries both Rhodia and Clairefontaine).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Parker51]

It’s the Mont Blanc of journals.

<duckbehindsofa>

It is not! I have found many, many other journals which are quite a bit higher in price and Mont Blanc, despite the rather high premium the new ones are sold at are still great pens.

 

I would suggest that Moleskine are the Coach of journals. Over priced for what they are, running on the reputation of what they were, with an occasionally nice product which acts as an intermittent reinforcer.

[dapv]

It is not! I have found many, many other journals which are quite a bit higher in price and Mont Blanc, despite the rather high premium the new ones are sold at are still great pens.

 

I would suggest that Moleskine are the Coach of journals. Over priced for what they are, running on the reputation of what they were, with an occasionally nice product which acts as an intermittent reinforcer.

 

 

I agree with your thought re: "I would suggest that Moleskine are the Coach of journals. Over priced for what they are, running on the reputation of what they were, with an occasionally nice product which acts as an intermittent reinforcer.".

[Bookman]

I love Moleskine notebooks. But when my fountain pen nibs and inks go anywhere near them they come down with that dreaded Moleskine infirmity, superhematornithopathy—excessive bleeding and feathering.

[Shaggy]

I love the line spacing on moleskine. I could drive a truck through the lines on clairfontaine.

 

I rarely write with fountain pens in moleskine. They're my work notebooks, and FPs aren't practical in my job.

[Astronymus]

running on the reputation of what they were

They were nothing. All their history is a marketing lie and made up.