Large Piccadilly Hardbacked Notebooks

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I had been looking forward to the arrival of the Piccadilly Large Notebooks (7.5ins x 10ins) for some months and when they finally arrived at our local bookstore I burned rubber down there to get both the lined and unlined versions.

 

As noted by Biffybeans and others these notebooks are very similar in looks to the standard Moleskine notebooks but differ in at least two important regards:

 

1. They come in this larger format; and

 

2. They are more than half the price of Moleskines (at least in Australia – less than $A20 for the Largest Piccadilly versus more than $A40 in some places for the larger of the Moleskine formats).

 

I had been looking forward to their arrival particularly as they offered the large format. Unlike many other users I have never had any particular difficulties with feathering and bleedthrough on Moleskine pages but I prefer to use two sizes of notebooks, a pocket size for portable note taking and an A4 or similar sized hardback journal for story writing and expanded notes etc.

 

My current pocket-sized solution is a Moleskine Pocket Cahier or Volant fitted into a RenArt soft leather cover.

 

When taking notes at work or writing scrappy drafts I use Rhodia pads but when I want a notebook to carry in a bag to write material to keep I like a larger hardcover with a closure mechanism. Although the Large Format Piccadilly is not quite A4 size, it is close enough for my purposes.

 

As noted by others, slight differences in bookbinding aside, these notebooks look very much like a larger version of the black hard backed Moleskines, with the elastic closure and expandable inner pocket inside the back cover. In feel they are almost indistinguishable from the Moleskine product.

 

So, basically, I thought I was onto a winning formula, subject to the new notebooks showing that they are fountain pen friendly. So over the last week I have carried out some ink tests.

 

Set out below is a set of four photos I have taken of the pen and ink tests done on both the lined and unlined papers. The first two photos show the front and reverse of the lined paper while the third and fourth photos show the front and reverse of an unlined test page.

 

Unfortunately I didn’t get to carry out all of the tests on the same day so the pens and inks are not identical for both sample pages, Despite this, I think I tried enough pens and inks to get the general idea.

 

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd21/jimg_2007/DSC_0984.jpg

 

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd21/jimg_2007/DSC_0990.jpg

 

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd21/jimg_2007/DSC_0980.jpg

 

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd21/jimg_2007/DSC_0991.jpg

 

Findings

 

Firstly, the feel of all of the nibs used on the pages were great. Smooth and minimal drag even with some nibs that I have had trouble with on cheaper writing pads before.

 

Secondly, serious feathering only occurred with a few of the “gushers” I have or with notoriously wet inks (e.g the Danitrio Stub and the Platinum Blue/Black). My usual daily use pens and usual inks showed minimal feathering or show through. Only when I really tried hard with wet inks could I achieve some spots of bleed through (refer to the “reverse” photos).The showthrough is actually not as significant as the photos suggest.

 

Finally, the unlined paper performed slightly better than the lined paper. I suppose that this may be explained by some slight inconsistency in manufacturing but I don’t really mind as I am looking for a notebook for daily use at a reasonable price. I would be a lot more fussy if I was asked to pay more for premium product.

Conclusion

 

I am extremely happy with these notebooks, both in looks and performance. So long as I remember to avoid unduly wet pens or inks I can see them becoming my general-purpose notebooks.

 

[inkypete]

Have one myself now - disappointed to be honest. The paper qulaity doesn't live up to the hype. A little better than Moleskin but some toilet paper is better than Moleskin so thats no recommendation. They are very good value, nice build but ordinary paper. Buyer beware!

[FaustianSlip]

I've got several of these that I picked up for between $3 and $5 on sale at Border's here in the States. The paper definitely isn't on the same level as, say, a Rhodia or Clairfontaine notebook, but I still really like them. I wish they made a medium-sized, soft covered book similar to the one that Moleskine manufactures, but even without that, I think the Piccadillies are a great alternative to Moleskine. Physically, they're virtually identical, they're less than half the price of a Moleskine, and frankly, I'd say the paper quality is about the same. The tendency for feathering and bleedthrough has depended entirely on the ink/pen combinations I've used; my Safari with Noodler's Kiowa Pecan has zero bleedthrough or feathering in either. Ditto for any of the several Chinese pens I have (I've got several fine-pointed Bookworm pens and a couple of Heroes), filled with Ottoman Azure, Tiananmen, Habanero or Antietam. My Pelikano Jr., Parker Reflex and Yafa filled with Noodler's Ottoman Azure, Noodler's Navy and PR Naples Blue, respectively, do okay, but they're medium nibs and can bleed through a tiny bit. I also have a vintage Trupoint with Ottoman Azure that's fine.

 

The pens/inks that have the most tendency for bleed through thus far have been the Bookworm that I use with Bay State Blue (though really, the bleed through and feathering are pretty mild compared to some of the reviews I've seen, and I love the color of that ink so much that I almost don't care if it bleeds through a bit- the feathering itself is very minimal) and my Parker 51 Special with Noodler's Navy (this one surprised me a bit, but I think it's mostly owing to the fact that the 51 has a medium nib and is a nice, wet writer, at least with this ink- again, the bleed through isn't bad enough to make the notebook or the pen unusable or anything).

 

Personally, I'd be willing to pay the going price for a Moleskine if it was filled with Rhodia or Clairfontaine paper- heck, even a Moleskine filled with Staples bagasse would be fantastic. But that doesn't seem likely to happen any time soon, and as someone who likes the form factor of the Moleskine a lot and finds it a great notebook to write in while on the go (to the point where I'm willing to sacrifice a bit of paper quality for the other functionality of the notebook), the Pic is a great alternative. I don't feel like I'm being duped if I get a notebook with marginal paper for $5. If I shell out $17.95 for the same notebook, though, and still get feathering bleedthrough, et cetera, that's a problem.

 

I'm dying to try one of the Rhodia Web books, but there's none available near me as yet. I'm keeping an eye out, though! I also have a few of the bagasse composition books from Staples that were on sale that are great for throwaway stuff, but they're more inclined to get beat up faster than my Pics or Moleskine. Target also just started selling Milquerius notebooks, which I've heard positive things about, so I'll probably get one of those at some point. And yes, it's clear that I have a paper obsession. Heh.

[Ghost Plane]

My local Borders just restocked the Piccadilly here in NE Florida. $3.99 for the small, both lined and graph, $5.99 for the large. I prefer the Habanas and Webnotebooks hands down, but if you need something cheap, these will do nicely if you don't care about the back of the page.

[LDB415]

I'll be going to Borders tomorrow to look for these. If I can get the large for about $6 even if I can only write on the front side it will be a good deal considering the larger page size compared to the Moleskine.

[Ghost Plane]

If you haven't already signed up on line for the Borders Rewards, do so. Those coupons off really help when you go in to buy.

[LDB415]

I do have their rewards card already and have gotten a little bit of good benefit from it so far. Does anyone have a link to these books on their website? I've looked but haven't found them so far.