Notebooks

Notebooks FAQ

Which notebooks are good for fountain pens?

This is a much harder question to answer than you might think. The problem is, pretty much any paper works with fountain pens. It’s just that some papers work better than others. And where you draw the line between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ is very personal. Even notebooks known for not being very fountain pen friendly can be fine if you don’t mind the ink feathering into the paper. And some people really don’t care that much.

For a few general recommendations, though, Rhodia and Clairefontaine are usually said to be among the best for fountain pens. Opinion seems a little more varied on Leuchtturm1917, but we’ve had good experience. Moleskine tends to be too absorbent, so fountain pen ink feathers and bleeds through the paper. Midori paper is very good, as used in Traveler’s Notebooks.

Hardback or Softback?

Both have their advantages and disadvantages. A hard cover notebook is much better if you’re likely to use it on your lap, or held in one hand while writing with the other. They’re usually pretty tough, for a long lifespan.

But a soft cover can bend along with the abuse - get it crushed in your bag, and it can bend, then bend back afterwards, where a hard cover might have been damaged. And sometimes, that flexing in your bag or pocket makes it so much more comfortable to have in there at all.

What size notebook should I buy?

I mean, you know we can’t answer that, don’t you? Why did you even ask? Oh, you think we made up the question just to link to our Guide to Notebook Sizes? Yeah, you might have a point.

What’s the best cover material?

It depends on the situation, really. If it’s going to get light use, or it’ll be carried carefully, a thin card cover will be fine, and anything tougher would just make the notebook bigger and heavier than it needs to be. It’ll need to be a bit thicker if you want a hardback. And for something a bit fancy, leather can be very hard-wearing.

If you want to keep the notebooks themselves simple, but well protected, a notebook cover is a great choice - simple notebook inside a nice leather cover to protect it and make it durable. Some covers can hold multiple notebooks, making it easy to carry ones for two or more different purposes, or carry a little diary as well as a general notebook.

What features should I look for?

It all depends what you’ll find useful, but some things you’ll find that might be useful are:

• Page marking ribbons - often one, occasionally more, so you can mark the current page without needing a separate bookmark. Quite handy for most uses.
• Numbered pages - very useful if you want to be able to refer back to notes, and you’re going to make an index, probably not so useful otherwise. For something like Bullet Journaling, it can save you a good bit of time, and look neater than numbering them yourself.
• Pocket - quite a few notebooks have a little pocket in the back, handy for some stickers, loose notes, or even to use as a very minimalist wallet.
• Rounded corners - easily forgotten, but that little bit of rounding to the corners can make a difference for a notebook that’s going to get chucked in a bag or pocket - you’re less likely to damage the page corners, and the corners are less likely to dig into you.