University of Alaska Museum of the North recently celebrated the centennial of the first ascent of Mt. Denali with an exhibit that included notebooks used during the historic climb.

This first verifiable ascent to McKinley's summit was achieved on June 7, 1913 by climbers Hudson Stuck, Harry Karstens, Walter Harper, and Robert Tatum.

The original journal of Harry Karstens, part of a special exhibit "Denali Legacy: 100 Years on the Mountain" at the University of Alaska Museum of the North. The items were loaned by the America Geographical Society. (Photo: Eric Engman/News-Miner)

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I was recently given this link and though not directly related to notebooks, has much to do with creativity and inspiration which should help us get over a blogger's block brought on by severe allergies that has plagued this blogger since last week.

Read Bill Watterson's  "Advice on Life and Creative Integrity"

LINK (via explore)

"How would you use this book?"

Rhodia Drive posed this question with a photo of an 8 x 11" Quu Vadis Habana notebook. A blank sketchpad is an invitation to adventure. Not all of us can sketch, much less draw or paint but perhaps even a few stcik figures and pressed flowers between these pages will become treasured reminders by summer's end.

Pair it with this nifty D.I.Y. watercolor travel set by Jorge Bustamante and a few brushes and you're good to go. 

LINK to the Rhodia Drive article

What a joy to stumble upon our old friend Danny Gregory's accunt of his recent visit to Bangkok.

Sketching this time on a Guttenberg paper sketchbook especially handmade for him Danny chronicles his meanderings around this exotic city.

The few peeks at the pages show a colorful record of scenes and characters he encountered rendered in gouache, accented with gold leaf (!) 

Take a look and say "Sawasdee" สวัสดี ! 

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Today is the last day to get a chance to be among the first to own this unique pen made out of a ombination of solid aluminum alloy and tropical coconut shell pen housing.

"It made out of solid aluminum alloy and natural coconut shell with CNC machining process and polished manually by a human hand. We put the tropical coconut shell on its barrel as a grip and on its cap to make it beautiful."

Slick machined steel with hint of the tropical. I love the contrast. With refills for the common Pilot G2 and Montblanc, this is truly a unique gift to friend or self.   

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Paul Theroux's latest travel book, "The Last Train to Zona Verde," chronicles his return to Africa.

In this article on the Wall Street Journal he talks about his note-taking habits.

"A notebook takes on a friendly character, the patina of its daily use, its doodles and coffee stains. It becomes an indispensable artifact of the trip, glowing with revelation."

I wish the article was longer but even a brief mention of notebooks in this context always makes my heart skip a beat.

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For those who want to assemble their own notebooks and writing pads, Generated has a bunch of free templates of printable papers.

LINK (via Lifehacker)

Among the fascinating paper-and-ink drafts of 25 authors presented in a recent Atlantic article is this hand-drawn original manuscript of Alice’s Adventures Under Ground. 

Also featured is F. Scott Fitzgerald's manuscript of The Great Gatsby and a handwritten page of The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. 

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