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Recommend A Hard Cover, Case Bound Notebook In A4 Or Us Letter Size, Available In Usa?


robo

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While living in England I got used to using some very nice Office Depot brand A4 sized blue casebound notebooks for note taking. These ones: http://www.viking-direct.co.uk/a/pb/Office-Depot-A4-Feint-Ruled-Casebound-Manuscript-Book/pr=Q25&id=5313033/

 

They're unpretentious but attractive, sturdy, and the paper is excellent - thick and very good with fountain pens and just about any ink. Sadly, they're unavailable in the USA, where I've moved. Most notebooks in stationery stores here seem cheap and flimsy, but I thought I'd found a good replacement with a Moleskine Folio Professional Notebook (this one http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/8862931913). It was expensive, but was the right size and even looked a little smarter.

 

Sadly, it turns out that the paper is awful. It's not nearly as good as those Office Depot notebooks - it's spongy and with my medium nib Lamy 2000 and Diamine ink, the ink feathers like crazy and bleeds right through the page. With a fine nibbed Hero 616, it's almost OK, but any dawdling on a letter causes the ink to bleed through there too. I'm pretty miffed as this notebook was not cheap and Moleskine positions itself as a high end brand.

 

Does anyone have a recommendation for a similar notebook that is fountain pen friendly and can be obtained in the USA?

 

Basically, I'm looking for:

 

* A4 or US Letter size

* Feint ruled

* Hardcover, with case binding (ie. 'book' style binding)

* Not tacky looking

* Last but not least, with good quality paper that won't feather

 

Does this exist in the colonies? ;)

 

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Black and Red is available from Amazon. Mine arrived yesterday. I was looking for just the thing you were, robo, and it was exactly what I was after. The only off-putting thing about it is the very busy front and back pages - some maps and tables that really have no use.

http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o715/drew_dunn1/Clan-MacNeil-Buaidh-No-Bas-Victory-or-Death_zps051b46b5.jpg

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For a casebound notebook in A4 or 8½x11 you might have to find the bottom of a barrel to scrape. The Levenger Ledgerdomain is a casebound volume with a cloth cover and 204 pages of decent cream paper. But it's 7¼x10½.

 

I used to be a big fan of the Moleskine A4 Folio. I went through two of them cover-to-cover and found them to be quite FP-friendly and quite un-Moleskinelike. And then the paper changed and nobody sent me a memo. I bought one and it sucked. If anything the paper, which was supposed to be 100gsm premium paper, was worse than what was in ordinary Moleskine notebooks, and yet Moleskine had the audacity to charge extra for it. They aren't advertised as FP-friendly, and now, of course, they're not. I'd like bump into Mr. Moleskine on the street someday. But I hope it happens soon. I'm pushing sixty.

I love the smell of fountain pen ink in the morning.

 

 

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I used to be a big fan of the Moleskine A4 Folio. I went through two of them cover-to-cover and found them to be quite FP-friendly and quite un-Moleskinelike. And then the paper changed and nobody sent me a memo. I bought one and it sucked. If anything the paper, which was supposed to be 100gsm premium paper, was worse than what was in ordinary Moleskine notebooks, and yet Moleskine had the audacity to charge extra for it. They aren't advertised as FP-friendly, and now, of course, they're not. I'd like bump into Mr. Moleskine on the street someday. But I hope it happens soon. I'm pushing sixty.

 

Interesting. I noticed on Moleskine's site there are two FAQ entries that seem to pertain to this, the first saying that "No, our paper hasn't changed", and the other suggesting that their regular notebooks not be used with fountain pens, because:

 

"The paper used for our notebooks is rather light, for improved handling performance, and should ideally be used with a pencil or a ball-point pen.

Fountain pen lovers can use the notebooks intended for sketches or Japanese albums, which come with heavier paper."

 

Is that a legitimate reason for thin and spongy paper? Is it actually better for ball point and pencil? Perhaps. I don't know. I do feel like their products have been so heavily marketed that I'm kind of put off though...

Edited by robo
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Black n Red all the way...easily the best value for FP friendly paper that can take most anything thrown at it, consistently.

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Black n Red may be available in the US.

 

I just picked one up at office depot and another at office max.

Fountain pens are my preferred COLOR DELIVERY SYSTEM (in part because crayons melt in Las Vegas).

Create a Ghostly Avatar and I'll send you a letter. Check out some Ink comparisons: The Great PPS Comparison 

Don't know where to start?  Look at the Inky Topics O'day.  Then, see inks sorted by color: Blue Purple Brown Red Green Dark Green Orange Black Pinks Yellows Blue-Blacks Grey/Gray UVInks Turquoise/Teal MURKY

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Another good choice, even though you have already purchased is Miquel Ruis paper.

Fountain pens are my preferred COLOR DELIVERY SYSTEM (in part because crayons melt in Las Vegas).

Create a Ghostly Avatar and I'll send you a letter. Check out some Ink comparisons: The Great PPS Comparison 

Don't know where to start?  Look at the Inky Topics O'day.  Then, see inks sorted by color: Blue Purple Brown Red Green Dark Green Orange Black Pinks Yellows Blue-Blacks Grey/Gray UVInks Turquoise/Teal MURKY

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Do not order the green military log books from Amazon. The paper sucks up ink which makes my EF nibs write like F+ nibs and there's a lot of show through and even some bleed through. They're great with pencils and ballpoints, though.

 

The Black n Red hard cover notebooks are the most reasonable deal I know about. Rhodia webnotebooks are awesome, but they're 3x the price as the BnR.

 

--flatline

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Just wanted to say thanks for the Black 'n' Red recommendation. I just received mine in the post and as far as I can tell it's an identical notebook to the blue and silver Office Depot ones I used in the UK, just with a different colored cover and some extra "helpful" (?) information printed inside the front and back covers.

 

A bit uglier, if I may say so, but basically just what I needed!

 

Thanks again.

Edited by robo
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Are the casebound versions better than the wire versions? And if wirebound, is the poly cover or hard cover better?

Everyone should be respected as an individual, but no one idolized. -- Albert Einstein

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Are the casebound versions better than the wire versions? And if wirebound, is the poly cover or hard cover better?

Personally I think casebound is better than wirebound as it's more compact and wire gets squashed and bent. I guess if you don't carry it around and opening completely flat is very important, wirebound might be better...

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Are the casebound versions better than the wire versions? And if wirebound, is the poly cover or hard cover better?

 

This is purely a matter of taste. I buy the casebounds, but only because I despise wire binding. But others love the wirebounds and use them exclusively. I'm just glad they make both so everyone can use the format that they like best.

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Depends on where you want to use it. I use casebound on my desk at home, but wirebound on the train, because I can fold it over and take up less space..

fpn_1412827311__pg_d_104def64.gif




“Them as can do has to do for them as can’t.


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