New unsullied notebooks

[tawanda]

I'm totally addicted to buying new notebooks. I cannot pass one by without hugging it to me, and fumbling for the plastic.

Thankfully I am quite picky. The covers have to be plain black, brown or red. I prefer softbacks, but do have some hard backs too. I also adore creamy pages with narrow ruled lines. (Moleskines - Yum yum yum) I dont mid gridded paper, but my writing is appaling, and plain paper just makes it look worse. The notebooks have to be at least A5 size but prefer A4 and larger. (love the Mole extra large softback). And they have to have 100+ sides to write on, but the more the better.

 

On the other hand, I loathe ringed pads, because not only do they look school child-ish, they often fall apart, and the pages feel loose, adn shift slightly when I write. I hate bright, chintzy cover designs, or girly colours, and I dont like logos, hence I don't own any Rhodia.

 

Having said all that I am considering buying the Apica 6A10, even though the cover is not quite plain or in my colour of choice.(Except red) But the paper is said to be excellent, and I like the old fashioned look to them.

 

 

My stash is kept in various places in my bedroom (storage beds are wonderful for hiding supplies!!!) and my study, and I now have no idea how many I own. So, I am about to do some housekeeping, get them all together, and draw up an inventory. But I was just wondering, am I the only one with a notebook hoarding problem or are there lots of you out there? Did we ought to start an organisation for addicts? We could call it Bookers Anonymous.

 

Anyway, let me know what kind of notebook floats your boats, and how many unused ones you have stashed away for rainy days.

 

TTFN

Tawanda

Edited August 7, 2008 by tawanda

[Steveareno]

At the moment I have 11 unused notebooks/journals. Plus about that many pocket sized notebooks. Various kinds. I keep telling myself that some day I will happen upon the perfect notebook/journal, settle on that style/brand and be totally faithful for the rest of my days (or at least until that style/brand becomes unavailable). Alas, so far I either haven't found The One, or I'm just incapable of fidelity. I'm always looking, weighing the pros and cons of each new notebook that catches my fancy. Unfortunately, forums like this one don't help, as people are always bringing up new models for me to check out.

[donwinn]

I have two, which I purchased a couple of weeks ago. One is a pocket, the other a 5 x 7, both C R Gibson Markings knockoffs of Moleskines. Picked them up at Walmart because my current pocket one is nearly full, and another journal I use for sermon notes is also almost full. These have been there quite a while, so they should not be prey to the reported change in paper issues I read about here.

 

Donnie

[tawanda]

I think I too am incapable of paper fidelity, but I do keep running home to dear old Moley. And I agree about this forum feeding my addiction. I'd never heard of Apica or Melqurius till I landed here a couple of weeks ago. Now I just have to have them!

And, oh, how I would love to make my own, like some of the geniuses here do...I wouldnt need a dealer then!

Cheers

T

[jbb]

I have a fancy for old ledger books -- the kind that accounts used to be kept in. They turn up at yard sales and thrift stores here. The paper in some of the older ones is particularly good for dip pen or flex nib pens.

[london]

I have about five or six I think that have been sitting around for a while. A couple of them are Moleskines which will get used in time, when those i am using are full. But I do have tendancy to be precious about using new notebooks -- the dilema of what to use them for, what to write, what ink, not sully them with mere jottings and trivia. A lovely Smythson notebook has been sat in a drawer for two years for exactly those reasons.

:embarrassed_smile:

- Mark

[Tangelfoot]

I'm totally addicted to buying new notebooks. I cannot pass one by without hugging it to me, and fumbling for the plastic....

...

 

Anyway, let me know what kind of notebook floats your boats, and how many unused ones you have stashed away for rainy days.

 

TTFN

Tawanda

 

 

I have 2 molskine pocket, 2 apica journals, a Crane spiral and a few lab notebooks all fresh but not using.

[jgrosch]

I also have a growing stash of notebooks. I've got 5 unused A4 Black n' Red notebooks, 6 Cachet sketchbook ( the local art supply store was having a 2 for 1 sale ). I work for a large Network Equipment company that supplies the engineers with lab notebooks. These are made by the Scientific Notebook Company of Stevensville, Mi. The paper is great for fountain pens so I help myself to a couple every now and then

[Johnny Appleseed]

I have a fancy for old ledger books -- the kind that accounts used to be kept in. They turn up at yard sales and thrift stores here. The paper in some of the older ones is particularly good for dip pen or flex nib pens.

 

As a side note, there is an interesting genre of Native American art done on old (and sometimes used) leger books. Traditionally a lot of native art was done on skins, but in the late 1800s, there was a trend of using old or discarded ledger paper. Sometimes unused ledgers paper was used, but sometimes there were paintings done with some long defunct company or railroad payroll accounts clearly visible under and around the artwork.

 

Some info can be found at this Website from the Hood Museam at Dartmouth.

 

John

[antigone]

I'm actually pretty proud of myself at the moment to have worked my stash somewhat down. Unfilled books that are waiting to become journals on my book shelf:

 

1 pocket lined Moleskine

1 pocket japanese Moleskine

1 flower journal by jil bliss

1 large lined Moleskine Volant (light blue)

1 large lined classic Moleskine

1 XL blank Moleskine Cahier

1 XL squared Moleskine Cahier

1 squared Composition book

2 hand bound books

Yay!

 

Well, then there are the notebooks that I don't plan to use as journals (like 10+ Apicas, a Berlin city Moleskine, several A4-notebooks, hand made books I'm going to sell or give away), but you really can't suppose me to count them in...

[watermangirl]

A few years ago my brother discovered a lovely paper shop in Barcelona, Papirum. They make the most beautiful blank books with handmade paper covers. Sigh. I love them. And my sweet brother has bought me two or three faithfully every time he goes to Barcelona (which luckily is often). I now have at least 7, all sizes, many colors and patterns. And I have yet to put pen or ink to any of them. Not sure what I am waiting for... the perfect first line to the perfect novel in the perfect color ink from the perfect pen to go in the perfect notebook? I think I will be waiting a while. (The first notebook, I just realized, is 6 years old.) Though my brother noticed my stash last week when he brought me my last one and said he would not buy me anymore until I STARTED to write in one!!! Better get going on that novel....

 

(FYI I am not a writer. I just play one in my dreams!)

[chancew1]

None.

 

At any one time I will have at most one unsullied Moleskine - I'll buy a new large lined when I'm under ten pages to go in the last one. Otherwise, I'll find a use for notebooks(sketchbook, sketchbook for collages, small notebook for notes, daily journal, small notebook for poems, cahier for names/phone numbers, exercise journal)....

[Randal6393]

Not only can't I count that high-- I've forgotten where I put some of them!

[tawanda]

Ok. I've been hunting and it doesnt look good (at least from my husband's point of view) Are you ready for this?

 

I have 29 unused notebooks !!! 29!!! Even I am shocked.

 

They include -

1 A4 Moleskine soft backs, gridded.

2 Mole reporters notebooks, gridded

1 Mole softback 13cm x 21cm lined

Ditto, hardback, gridded

3 A5 Paperchase hardback buff coloured cahier-type copies.

4 A4 Spiral bound Pukka Pads with dividers (and I hate spirals -go figure)

2 x A5's - Ditto

2 x Dk brown suede covered A5 journals from WHSmith, about an inch thick.

6 x thick A5 journal type books of varying standards and designs (look like about 200+ sheets in each)

1 x spiral reporter's notebook with turquoise cover.

1 Spiral bound A4 book which is made from recylced tabacco plant leaves (I also have a wad of A4 loose sheets and

envelopes from tabacco plant leaves, too)

Then I have an assortment of notebooks bought as presents from people who know of my passion, most of which I will probably never use because they have teddy bears etc on the covers.

 

This list doesnt include the 30 or so A4 comp books, left over from the stock I carried when I educated my children myself (homeschool). (My kids are well in their twenties now BTW! ) Very cheap paper and covers. I keep them for the grandkids to use

 

I will try and take a photo if I can, but I'm not sure how to upload it.

 

Can anyone beat that?

 

I currently have seven on the go. Their uses include writng my novels, keeping a personal journal, handwritten copies of my favourite poems, experimenting with pens, inks etc and practicing my penmanship, keeping a still-room book, and - my latest endevour - learning Latin.

 

Perhaps those Apica 6A10's may have to wait a while...

 

TTFN

T

 

[J English Smith]

I have many, but not as many as tawanda.

 

I found that using the Mole Reporter's Notebooks, large (240 pages), for work meant that in order to feel secure, I have to have about three on hand for future use in plastic. One of them lasts me about 9-10 months. I shop around on eBay for the best price I can get.

 

I also have about 6 different notebooks in various sizes for story writing (Apica, Moleskine, Clairfontane) and three future notebooks for journaling (I am about to switch from Mole cahiers to Mole large regular binding, when the current Cahier gets used up).

 

And then I made myself stop, because that's quite a lot of paper, ya know. I will be lucky to use all of that up in five years. By then, the way things are going, I will probably be jibbering in a forest somewhere and carving my symbol on trees with a sharp stick.

Edited August 7, 2008 by J English Smith

[lefty928]

Not only can't I count that high-- I've forgotten where I put some of them!

 

Likewise. :embarrassed_smile: Every time I rummage through my accumulation, which is stored in a couple boxes (for the most part), I mutter to myself that I won't need to buy another notebook for years.

 

But then, I've always collected notebooks, so some of my blank ones were acquired a couple decades ago and are unlikely to ever be used, for one reason or another: disappointing paper; too "fancy"; won't lie flat; too thick; haven't found the right use for it yet; cover too floppy; spiral binding bent; too precious because it's my last one of a favorite model purchased abroad years ago; a gift that doesn't quite work; rejected but someday I might change my mind; used to like decades ago but now not a good fit; too few pages written in to store in the journal boxes, but perhaps too many to start in on a new subject; whatever. Well, that takes care of most of the contents of one box ...

 

What's alarming is that I still find it hard to resist buying new ones, which explains the recently started second box.

[Zoe]

Nothing like an inventory to shock one. I have so many unsullied, tampered with and half filled notebooks that I won't embarrass myself by stating how many. And that is after I sold dozens to some of my friends who are also passionate about paper.

 

But I may do an inventory as I know when I inventoried my watercolours and fountain pens, I realized the folly of my ways.

[alice]

One -- a large squared moleskine. It will sit in its shrink wrap until the one I'm currently using gets filled up.

 

That said, I used to love shopping around for multiple variations on an item (notebooks being one example). Indeed, I still do; but these days I'm quite satisfied with browsing and not buying.

[Pippin60]

Hmmm...

 

1. 2 Rhodia 6" x 8¼" 1 grid, 1 plan
2. pocket clairfontaine
3. 3 pocket cahier moleskine
4. 2 Moleskine 3½" x 5½"
5. quo vadis journal
6. 2 moleskine 5¼" x 8¼", one is for ink samples and pen paraphernalia inventory.

 

WOW I didn't think I even had that many and I'm not even counting my Franklin Planner I use at work, and the Exacompta I have on back order from The Daily Planner.

 

I always have a pocket cahier on me, and the journal I use for thoughts, and other ramblings.

[fierdog]

Hmm... :hmm1: Given that a lot of my stuff is packed away, i have no idea exactly how many i have, but the number keeps growing. I love pads almost as much as i love pens.