How many words per journal page?

[Joe in Seattle]

I've been searching for the perfect journal: lays flat like Quo Vadis, orange colour like Rhodia, Sized exactly as moleskine, off white pages .......

 

I was wondering this morning where I get the most bang for the buck word-wise. The Quo Vadis (my latest fling) is larger and hence should have more words, right? Well, the line spacing there seems to completely vitiate its' advantage!

 

Here's a tally I took of words per page written in my journals beginning with the earliest models tried:

 

Levenger Stanley Journal leather cover with inserts: 153 words (also feathered and bled through like paper towels

Exacompta: 106 words - WIDE ruled (didn't much care for the hand of the paper either)

Moleskine: 164 words - ruled right for me, loved the off white tone, laid flat enough, nice ribbon marker, fits into my Renaissance Art leather cover

Rhodia Web Notebook: 103 words - loved the orange cover, like the off white pages, a tad too large for my leather journal cover, does not lay flat

Quo Vadis: 167 words - like that it lays flat, do not like ruling, nor the stark white colour

 

While I will probably keep searching for that mythical perfect notebook/journal my two favorites are the Rhodia and the 'umble moleskine.

[ZeissIkon]

I use standard composition books for journalling; with "broad ruled" pages at 9.75 x 7.5 inches, I get around 250 words on a page, more or less depending on the nib size I'm using (my dry, XF Parker 51 gets almost double what I get with the fat, wet line from my Montblanc Generation, labeled a medium but writes like a broad).

 

Edit to banish unintended smiley.

Edited January 13, 2010 by ZeissIkon