In most respects, this notebook has all the standard features: ribbon marker, elastic closure, and logo stamped on the back. The inside front cover has a space for your name.

The key difference is the leather cover. Rather than being a thin layer of leather wrapped around cover boards, it’s a single layer of thick, sturdy leather, as you can see from the edges. It has that nice leather smell, and I’m sure it will soften up nicely as it ages. One immediate benefit I can see to this type of cover is that you won’t have that fraying that often happens at the corners of the spines of Moleskines and other similar notebooks, where the outer layer of the cover starts to tear from repeated folding.

They have a beautiful selection of colors:

The spine feels a little stiff, more so in front and back than when opening at middle, but it should soften up and break in: as the company points out on their website, “If you want your notebook to lie flat, bend the book back on itself. It can take the strain; they’re stronger than you think.”

The sample I was sent has their 90 gsm plain paper, which is smooth and somewhat “hard.” (Their “sketch” notebooks have a 140 gsm paper that is said to be “not as primed,” and better for pencil and charcoal.) All my usual pens felt good writing on it, and there was no beading-up or feathering. Only the Super Sharpie bled through. Show-through was about average.

Overall, this is quite a nice notebook and I look forward to seeing how it settles in over time. Prices start at £9.99 for A6 size, which is not super cheap, but also not unreasonable for the level of quality, I think. If you’d like to try a Monsieur Notebook yourself, at the moment your best bet may be ordering online– they are have distribution in the UK and Australia, but the US is “coming soon” at this point. In the meantime, we have a giveaway!

The folks at Monsieur Notebook have kindly offered to give one lucky reader a free notebook, including customized engraving! The winner can select any A5 or A6 notebook from their shop. I’ll select a random winner from entries received in these ways:

On Twitter, tweet something containing “@M_Notebook” and “@NotebookStories, and follow “@M_notebook” and “@NotebookStories.”

On Facebook, “like” the  Notebook Stories page  and the Monsieur Notebook page, and post something containing the words “Monsieur Notebook” on my wall.

On your blog, post something containing the words “Monsieur Notebook” and “Notebook Stories” and link back to this blog.

The deadline for entry is Friday May 18 at 11:59PM, EST. Good luck everyone!
And please remember to check my posts on Facebook and Twitter for an announcement of the winner.

Washi tape is a wonder.
I carry along a few small rolls whenever I travel so that I can quickly stick down any ephemera I encounter into my journal.
I wish I’d started doing this sooner; I’d come home with packets of ticket stubs and paper coasters from a  trip and end up trashing it all because there just wasn’t enough time (or the inclination) to sit down and journal it.
Here’s a travel journal I embellished with washi and decorative masking tape:

I love the beautiful colors and patterns– such a simple and elegant way to embellish a plain notebook. This inspirted me to go looking for some more notebooks decorated with washi tape:

Washi Tape Notebook Tutorial:

Moleskine + Washi Tape:

Washi Tape Notebook:

So many colors and patterns… the possibilities are endless!

One look at the Hebrew word mahberet – notebook – arching in print on thin brown paper brings back countless memories of school days. From now on it will be possible to see such notebooks only among keepsakes in storage, for those who have had the sense to keep them. This summer, for the first time, the Dafron company’s trademark brown notebooks will not be sold on the back-to-school market, after more than 60 years. The decline in demand, in the wake of the transition to computer technology, along with cheap imports of paper notebooks from the Far East and Hebron, have made their production in Israel uneconomical. Dafron’s two major competitors, Daftar and H.M.N., both shut down more than a decade ago, and now the largest manufacturer has also given up after production drastically decreased over the past decade.

Read more at Saying goodbye to Israel’s beloved notebook – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

“I collect journals like an addict. I see one, it calls my name and I can’t rest until I buy it.”

Here’s some of her collection:

Make sure you click through to read the rest of her post about how she uses her various notebooks and journals and join the discussion in the comments: My Journals and Notebooks.

Good advice! Read more about other inspiring messages and manifestos for creative people at Five Manifestos for the Creative Life | Brain Pickings.

The primary goal of a notebook is to get out of the way… to disappear. It does this by perfectly fitting into your writing situation. How accessible does it need to be? What notebook tangibles do you need? How will it withstand a beating? By fitting into how you write, a notebook becomes invisible. It wastes none of your time because any moment you spend noticing the notebook is a moment you could be noticing something else, and writing about it.

But that’s not what makes a notebook truly sexy.

I have years of experience with some notebooks, weeks with others. As you can see, I’ve explored a wide variety of notebooks. The photo above is ordered chronologically, with my oldest journal on the bottom and my newest discovery, the Field Notes brand, the notebook in which I’m writing the first draft of this article, on the top. Like The Gel Dilemma, I’ve evaluated notebooks according to specific buckets of criteria.

My collection represents a wide variety of the notebooks out there, but they are merely the ones I’ve stumbled upon or had recommended. It is by no means a complete or representative collection. But know this: when I see a store with notebooks for sale, I always stop. I examine. I flip the pages and figure out if there is anything new. I do this regardless of current company, country, or convenience. I am a social introvert, but will stop a complete stranger on the street if they’re sporting an unknown notebook.

Read more at Rands In Repose: Sweet Decay.

He’s not kidding when he says he likes Field Notes:

I think this may be the largest collection I’ve seen of just one brand of unused notebooks. Ted, thank you for sharing your very serious addiction with us!

I just found Design.Y via the Pencil Talk blog, and I had to sit on my hands to keep myself from immediately clicking the buy button for a few of these VERY expensive notebooks. At a base price of ¥3780-9410 (about $60-118 USD) each, not including shipping from Japan, these won’t be for everyone, but boy do they look nice… I don’t know how long I’ll be able to resist breaking open my piggybank…

They’re hand-made, with real leather covers. Four sizes are available, including a wonderfully chunky yet compact 600-page pocket size model. Each notebook is made to order, so you can choose the color of the ribbon marker, lined or plain paper, whether or not it has an elastic closure and whether the page edges are dyed. Brown and black leather covers are available, in either cowhide or goatskin. The paper is very thin so ink will show through, but that doesn’t seem to stop fountain pen users from raving about the lack of bleedthrough and feathering, as well as the overall high quality of the craftsmanship. The only complaint I’ve seen is that they are too nice to actually use!

You can order online from their website, and PayPal is accepted.

Only 8 months til Christmas, start dropping hints now!

Found via Tribal Notebooks by ARMINHO | Paper Crave.