35 Fountain Pen Friendly Notebooks

[Karmachanic]

A blog post listing 35 fountain pen friendly notebooks, including reviews.

[Kenlowe]

Thanks for posting.

 

A very professional, stylish and useful review.

[doublechocolate]

wow~ that's amazing! I've bookmarked your blog. Thanks for sharing!

[Karmachanic]

wow~ that's amazing! I've bookmarked your blog. Thanks for sharing!

 

Hmm, not my blog. I just came across the page in my daily journey around fountain pen world.

[inkstainedruth]

Thanks for posting the link. I've posted to it suggesting that the guy also checks out Miquelrius, although warn him that they're hard to get in the US.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Maurizio]

This is a cool find. Thanks for sharing it.

[inkypete]

Really well researched and written blog - thanks for posting. Can see myself spending a bit of time reading this one.

[Karmachanic]

Thanks for posting the link. I've posted to it suggesting that the guy also checks out Miquelrius, although warn him that they're hard to get in the US.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

For the benefit of those in the UK, these notebooks are marketed as Basicos MR

[inkstainedruth]

Thanks. Good to know.

When I find them (there's now a different website from their main one) I tend to order in bulk -- simply because they ARE hard to find. And even when B&N carried them, they only seemed to have the graph paper ones (I tend not to like graph paper except if it's something like 10/inch, and I've never seen that except as pads at Staples).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[txomsy]

Interesting and a great resource for a large number of notebooks. Thanks.

[bogiesan]

Disclaimer: Did not read the reviews because I don't need to; I have a ten-year supply of my favorite notebooks, Molie's pocket hardcovers and a few Rhodia Debbie's, all obtained at deep discounts in quantity. I understand and appreciate a high quality writing surface but I only use the recto side of each leaf in my pocket notebooks so the paper quality is of little importance to me. However, my sketchbooks and personal stationery are different matters.

 

Plenty of valiant work went into that list of reviews but I wish to point out that, regardless of the name on the product and, unless the notebook maker also control the complete supply chain, paper stocks change like underwear. Might not happen. Might.

 

Lechtturm, for instance, ten years ago was very unfriendly toward liquid inks. Then they released their "ink friendly" paper stock which turned out to be not very inky friendly at all and got worse as time went on. Things change over time so, except for a few products that manage to keep their high standards, this list will be obsolete in a year or two.

[Paul-in-SF]

Thanks for the link. I looked at the review for the Clairefontaine Basic notebook, and it matches my own perceptions of the product, which is a good thing for me if it means that I can rely on his reviews to steer me towards items I would like.

 

There was one problem with that review that bothered me a little. The reviewer said that the notebook is glue-bound, when his own photo (and my inspection of my own notebooks) shows that they are composed of sewn signatures that are then glued to the cloth spine. That's a very different thing, and could affect the perceived value of the notebook.

[MKeith]

Thank you for posting. Very helpful indeed.

[Karmachanic]

Well yes. Everything changes incrementally moment by moment, and sometimes we get big lumpy changes all at once. Even the revered Tomoe River has changed their paper.

 

Having said that I'm going to go out on a limb and say that one will see far more consistency in Japanese paper over time, due to the Japanese culture of craft and quality.

 

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bogiesan wrote

Things change over time so, except for a few products that manage to keep their high standards, this list will be obsolete in a year or two.

Edited October 15, 2020 by Karmachanic

[MTHALL720]

Bless you! Thanks for sharing this information. Just in time. Now that I can't find my usual Staples Sugar Cane recycled notebook I'm trying to think of another option.

[inkstainedruth]

Bless you! Thanks for sharing this information. Just in time. Now that I can't find my usual Staples Sugar Cane recycled notebook I'm trying to think of another option.

Do they no longer carry those on the Staples website? It was a bummer when they stopped having them in B&M stores, even though they were expensive compared to the regular Staples notebooks. I had a couple of the Sugar Cane composition books and really liked them.

OTOH, I tried a spiral bound banana paper notebook and absolutely hated it (don't remember if it was sold by Staples or someplace else). The paper was sort of hairy, and was also very absorbent -- to the point where some of my writing (I was using it for writing poetry) is now completely illegible a couple of years later.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Karmachanic]

Ruth, try searching for "bagasse notebook." You may have more success.