Monsieur Notebooks

A few weeks ago I was sent these attractive leather-bound books from Hide Stationery, a recently-established English company that sells them under the Monsieur brand. These notebooks are hand-bound in India, by craftsmen paid fair wages, and have a definite "hand-made" artisanal feel about them; you can see from the occasional loose fibre on the edges of the leather that they have been cut by hand. These are not high-end leather goods as you might see in Smythson's, but a practical alternative for the rest of us. (That said, I really must replace my Game Book before the start of the grouse season as my current one is nearly full. ;-)) The leather is very rigid on the small black notebook, but has more "give" on the larger, A5 book. Monsieur state that the leather used in the binding is vegetable-tanned, and it shows in the patterns you see in the leather. As this is a natural material you will notice slight blemishes, marks and wrinkles which I think is part of the charm. See below for a close-up of the finish on the A5 brown leather notebook.


The books are stiff when new, and take a little bit of effort to open. They are perfect-bound, and don't lay flat when opened. Over time, I should think it will be easier to make it lie flat, as the leather in the spine is broken in. They have that leathery aroma, as another reminder of this book's cover material.

The black notebook is around A6 size, 145mm high by 110mm. It has 192 6mm ruled pages of 90gsm ivory paper. I have no information to hand as to the origin of the paper used, but hopefully this is also obtained from sustainable sources. Taking my fountain pens and a few pencils out, I tested the paper to see how well it handles fountain pen ink and graphite.



As you can see, the paper can handle my inks fairly well. There's a bit of feathering on the Diamine Imperial Blue from my M90, perhaps some also with the Kelly Green, but that is all. My M90 is a wet writer anyway, which is why I use it to test paper in these reviews. When you turn the page, you do notice some bleedthrough, though it's not excessive by any means.


This is a classic "little black book" for writing down your innermost thoughts, or perhaps just notes from a boring business meeting. With this cover, it should last for years in your handbag or briefcase. I like this little notebook a lot, but for me the winner in this pair is the larger, brown leather bound A5 notebook. This one also has 192 pages, this time of plain paper of the same off-white stock as the black notebook. As I don't draw very well, I did not test the paper on this book, but I imagine it behaves as well as the paper in its smaller cousin. This is the proper size for a leather-bound notebook, I think. It's big enough for sketches, for which the plain paper helps. It's not far removed from the kind of notebook you would imagine Charles Darwin scribbling in as he wandered around the Galapagos islands.


Both notebooks have the regulation Moleskine-style elastic closure and bookmark ribbon, though they lack the Mole's inside-pocket. Good; Monsieur seem to have decided to keep things simple, and the pocket introduces more complexity to the design. The name and address plate on the inside is there however, printed in the art nouveau style. It's also styled in French as it says simply, "Nom, etc."



Both notebooks also have an embossed Monsieur logo on the back cover, complete with moustache and monocle. To my eye also harks back to the belle epoque, and makes for a nice finishing touch:



I think these notebooks are excellent, and should become more interesting over time as the material ages; by the time you've filled it up with your jottings, it'll look like the diary in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Some people may find them a bit rough-and-ready, but I like that quality, and they fill a niche for hand-made leather notebooks which would otherwise be satisfied by more expensive products. The A6 retails for up to GBP9.99 and the A5 for up to GBP12.99.

They are available at a few stationers' in the UK, and online at Papernation.

My thanks to Tom at Hide Stationery for the review samples.

Daycraft Signature Notebook

Last in the series of Daycraft notebook/sketchbook reviews, I come to the Signature Notebook. This is an A5-sized, 176-page, soft cover notebook finished in Daycraft's signature (pun not intended) Italian PU, this time in a plain, textured, rosy pink hue. The texture is that of a fine-grain leather, and there is a Daycraft logo embossed discreetly on the back cover. This notebook also has black-paper inside liners.

The pages are the customary 100gsm notebook paper, ruled with 6.5mm lines, which is handy for people with small handwriting. The paper is cream-coloured and edged with black. I tried to take a photo of this but my photography is rubbish, so the resulting picture was blurred. Notebook Loves Pen did a much better job of it, and I suggest you look there if you need an illustration. This notebook has a black ribbon page-marker, but surprisingly, no elastic closure or rear pocket. I don't miss these features, but many people might; personally, I find it refreshing that this notebook does not try to copy the Moleskine design. Daycraft have kept this design simple and elegant and should be praised. Like the Skinz and Animal Pals notebooks I reviewed earlier, it can be made to lie flat if required, though it will not lie flat on its own.

Unlike NLP, I found that, in my tests on the back page using a battery of fountain pens, rollerballs and pencils, the paper held up pretty well. There is no discernible feathering from the ink that I can see with the naked eye, and only slight bleedthrough with my wetter nibs, the M90 and the Capless.



Of all the Daycraft notebooks I have reviewed in this series, this is my favourite, because of its simple design. It is unfussy and begging to be used, if only for shopping lists or for writing down notes at a boring work meeting. The cover should hold up well inside a handbag or briefcase if used with care. Recommended.

It is available, as with all the Daycraft range, at stationers' in Asia and Australia, one or two places in central Europe, and also online. My thanks once again to Daycraft for the sample.

Data:

Dimensions: 151mm x 212mm
Pages: 176
Cover: Fine Italian PU, case bound
Content: 6.5mm ruled lines, cream coloured paper
Other: Inkjet printed edges

Daycraft Cookie Bookie Notebook

This isn't just any old cheese cracker, this is the Daycraft Cookie Bookie Notebook.

It seems blatantly obvious now, that someone should make a notebook based on a biscuit. (Note to anyone from the USA: here in England we use the French name - biscuit or bis cuit - twice cooked - rather than the Dutch name koekje to describe small, hard, sweet wheat-based products.) The cream filling you see below, is in fact the case-binding of the Cookie-Bookie, which is exposed for all to see...yum...


In common with the previous Daycraft products, the covers are made from "Fine Italian PU", in this case with the fine pigskin-texture of the Animal Pals notebook but with added upholstery-stitching to suggest the shape and texture of a baked biscuit. Underneath, the board used is rigid, just like a biscuit, in fact.

This notebook is 125mm x 125mm in size, ie about 5 inches by 5 inches. It feels a bit strange using a perfectly-square notebook, but this is so well-made that it doesn't matter. On to the paper, which is a lovely, bright and cheerful pumpkin-orange:


This paper is as good as any, anywhere. I found almost no bleedthrough with my fountain pens:

The edging is darker than the rest of the paper, which I suppose is the result of the manufacturing process. This notebook is great fun, and forms part of a small range which includes an Oreo clone and a lemon waffle (or wafer, as we would call it here). There are 144 pages to play with, which should be enough for anyone.

Highly recommended. (I'm keeping mine.)

Data:

Dimensions: 125mm x 125mm
Pages: 144 pages, 6.5mm ruled, orange paper in this case
Cover: Italian PU
Binding: Case-bound


Thanks again to Daycraft for the samples.

Daycraft Skinz Notebook

Second in the series of Daycraft notebook reviews, this is the Skinz notebook, finished in silver with a curious "tattoo"-style design on the front cover. I have just checked the Daycraft website and can find no reference to this line, so I guess it is new for 2012. There are two notebooks in this line, the other sporting a beige cover with crossed Colt .45 revolvers.

This notebook is slightly smaller (102mm x 146mm) than the Animal Pals notebook, and finished in the same Italian polyurethane soft leatherette, though the finish has a definite cow-leather grain to it, rather than the fine pigskin grain on the Animal Pals notebook. The material is a bit thin, so you can see in the picture where it has been folded in and glued to the boards if you look carefully. It is shipped with a sheet of temporary tattoo stickers, complete with instructions on how to apply them:



The paper is white, ruled with 6.5mm lines, and decorated with a "tattoo" design at the top of each page which would not be out of place on a motorbike or the small of a rock-chick's back. This paper is excellent - there are 128 pages of 100gsm stock which takes fountain pen ink very well. There is barely any bleedthrough at all with my fountain pens at any rate, and no feathering detectable in any of the ink samples I tested it with. (Sorry, I forgot to take a pic of the reverse, but believe me, there's barely a trace.) The covers are board-like, much stiffer than the Animal Pals notebook and more like a Moleskine.



This notebook is case-bound, and the pages can be made to lie flat for writing on. The styling is not to my taste, but then again I don't think I am in the target audience for this one - I'm guessing it's really for teenagers, and there's nothing wrong with that, especially to introduce young people to fine stationery. My teenage daughter was impressed with this notebook, at any rate.

This is another fine product and I can recommend it. As with all the Daycraft range it is likely to be available widely around Asia and Australia.


Data:

Dimensions: 102mm x 146mm
Cover: Italian PU cover, board
Pages: 128pp, 6.5mm ruled with tattoo design in light grey
Paper: 100gsm white paper
Binding: Case-bound
Other: Includes tattoo sticker


Thanks to Daycraft for the sample.

Daycraft Animal Pals Notebook

Recently I received a small consignment of notebooks (and one sketchbook) from Daycraft, a Hong Kong-based manufacturer. I shall review them over the next couple of days, and I thought I would review this, the Animal Pals notebook, first.

It's an A6-sized pocket notebook with soft covers, and designed with this cute abstract animal design stitched into the lilac-coloured "Italian PU" (sic) cover. Have you guessed what it is yet? Actually this one is a hippo, and is one of a range of five designs, each with a different animal from every continent. The others on the website are penguin and baboon; sheep and panda versions should be available in 2012, if I read the catalogue correctly.

First impressions are that this is a very nicely-made notebook indeed. The cover is soft and flexible, unlike the small Moleskine hard black notebook. At A6 size, it is also slightly larger than the Mole (106mm x 150mm, compared with the Moleskine's 90mm x 140mm). I wonder how hard wearing this cover actually is, though, inside a briefcase or handbag, because from experience, I have found the Moleskine to be pretty tough. I'm also slightly surprised that Daycraft have chosen Italian-made material to cover their notebooks, but they make a feature of "imported" materials for their range. It feels very similar to a soft leather, and only the plastic smell betrays its hydrocarbon roots. There's the regulation pocket inside the back cover for ticket stubs, stamps and receipts, and a baby-pink page-marker ribbon, too.

The paper, which is probably 100gsm stock, is printed with 6.5mm ruled lines. There's also a subtle animal print on some of the pages - you may be able to spot a monkey's tail curling across one of the pages below. The animal prints are very subtle, as I did not notice them at all until I began to write this review; they are more apparent on the photographs.

As far as the paper is concerned, I did not test it in quite the same way that AK from the superb Notebooks Loves Pen blog tested it when she reviewed Daycraft's Signature Sketchbook a little while back. She used a variety of pens including a felt-tip and found some significant bleedthrough. I am a fountain pen user, however, and tested a page with various pens and pencils I had to hand, and found very little bleedthrough. Some of my pens are a fairly stern test of the integrity of certain papers, so I am pleased to report that I could detect no readily-visible feathering or other defects, at least from the paper. I did note some minor changes to the lines of the fountain pen ink where the FP ink met the printed animal designs on the pages, where the printer's ink used (I'm guessing it is oil-based) forms a barrier to the fountain pen ink to bond with the fibres in the paper. This is the most minor of quibbles, probably of no interest to anyone but FP fanatics, and one I only noticed when editing this review. With a ballpoint or pencil, it is not an issue, but on the photo below you can see some thinning of the lines, for example on the sample I wrote with the Kelly Green ink:



With the fountain pens, drying time is normal, though as usual, the Noodler's Bulletproof Black took the longest to dry, hence the smudges on the page. The creamy paper is very pleasant to write on and the 6.5mm gap is a sensible size for most handwriting. It is case-bound, so whilst it does not lie flat on the desk, you can flatten it out to write in.

Overall, this is a fun, very well made notebook, which I think would appeal to children or adults who are young-at-heart. It appears to be available widely around Asia and Australia, and Poland, but nowhere else yet in Europe as far as I know.

Data:

Dimensions: 106mm x 150mm
Pages: 128 cream colour pages, 6.5mm lined, animal pattern printed
Cover: Italian PU (polyurethane)
Binding: Case-bound, with pocket inside back cover

My thanks to Mr Foreal Lee at Daycraft for the samples.

Epi Hartou Notebook

I was actually working on Saturday when this lovely little thing arrived in a padded envelope:


It is the Epi Hartou notebook, purchased recently from the Evripidis stationers by the author of the excellent Palimpsest blog, Lito Apostolakou, and sent to me for a recent comment. Many thanks!

It's a smart little memo book or notebook, smaller than I had been expecting, but nicely staple-bound inside this grey marbled card. I know very little Greek (in fact, I only really know the lower-case Greek alphabet because it is used in astronomy to name stars in order of brightness, and even then I am a bit hazy with the letters after iota as they are used for the really faint stars) but I can read the word "Tetradio" on the cover, and the name "Epi Hartou" beneath. A quick shufty on the internets tells me that τετραδιο translates as "Note". I like the little frame around the title, and I like the creamy paper, too, which I tested with a few of my pens and pencils:

There's a bit of bleedthrough from some of my pens, particularly the M90 and the Capless, but nothing to get upset about. There's barely any bleedthrough showing from the finer nibs, as you can see from the other side of the paper.


I am really pleased with this delightful little notebook, which I hope to use in the near future for various lists and notes. My thanks again to Lito for this prize.

Perfect Notebook Found?

The excellent Office Supply Geek website recently published this review of the Field Notes Steno Pad. From my computer monitor, it looks like it meets my criteria for the ideal shorthand notebook which I mentioned a while back.

The covers look robust enough, and the "useful" information printed inside the covers can liven up a dull meeting. All I would have to do is to punch two holes in the covers for the Steno Pad to meet my specifications.

It's available in the UK too, from The Paperie. The sting in the tail? Just the price, GBP8.25 (over USD13). Ouch.

Silvine Memo Book

This post about indexing, by the miserablist “Nemo” on the Mobilis Ink Mobili blog, reminded me of the existence of the Silvine brand of stationery, which has been a staple of British newsagents’ stationery shelves for years. I remember that often, they were the only affordable notebooks available in the local Lavells or Martins in the days before Moleskine. Established in 1901, the Silvine brand is owned by the Sinclair company, based in Otley, West Yorkshire. Silvine is one of the few British stationery brands left in operation, but seems to be run on 21st Century lines: for example, it boasts ISO 14001 and FSC certification. Silvine’s red jackets stood out a mile and their Memo Books were commonly used for all kinds of quotidian jobs: shopping lists, to-do lists, aircraft spotters’ lists of airliner registrations, and so on. Silvine was never seen as a premium brand; it was just an everyday brand of stationery.

Recently,I popped into the local stationer’s and picked up two of Silvine’s classic products: the Exercise Book, and the aforementioned Memo Book.


It's been many years since I used one of these: and the quality is surprisingly good. It has 72 pages, and measures a firmly pocket-sized 158mm tall by 99mm wide. On the cover it proudly proclaims that it is "BRITISH MADE". It is also very cheap at GBP0.71, or just over one USD. The cover is flimsy, but the paper is fine to write on. I used a variety of fountain pens, pencils and different Stabilo Point 88 felt-tip pens, and found that there was only minor bleed-through on one of my pens, the Pilot M90, which for this test was loaded with Diamine Imperial Blue ink. There was no discernible feathering where I've written with the fountain pens. See below for the results:


The paper is feint ruled - I don't believe they produce either plain or squared versions - and comes in a cash-book variant as well. In 2008, Silvine changed the brand logo: the one pictured above is the old one, which I prefer. Its replacement is just the name, without the laurel wreath, in a serif font.

This is a cheap, handy-sized little memo book with no frills at all. With a bit of care, it could be a constant companion on shopping trips, or even a trip to the local airport for a bit of aircraft spotting, like this for example:

Metaphys 44113 Blanc Notebook

Note Booker Esq. kindly sent me his Metaphys 44133 blanc reporter's notebook after I "won" the giveaway he held late last year. Held up on its trans-Atlantic trip by winter weather and Christmas, it finally arrived here on 11 January 2011. My children were fascinated by it, mainly by its size: it measures a mere 104 millimetres long by 65mm wide and 9mm deep. It will fit completely within a standard 3x5 index card (see above).

One advantage of this small size is that it will fit comfortably in my shirt pocket, alongside a Uni Kuru Toga or my Pilot M90. Japanese pens and pencils seem to be a natural partner to this small but well-designed little notebook. Or is it a memo pad? The Engrish message on the front says:

METAPHYS Blanc is designed for drawing and taking a memo on the move

You would certainly have a hard time writing lengthy notes in this memo pad, unless you had really tiny handwriting. It's niche is, I feel, the quick note, telephone number, email address and so on. It is exquisitely made, though I agree with NB that it is expensive ($10.50 at Jet Pens). For that money you get a soft, fabric-clad cover, and a large number (I couldn't be bothered to count, ah wait a minute, the Metaphys website says 70) of white plain sheets of thin paper which is made seemingly from linen or cotton rag. This paper is, by necessity, very thin, as shown by the amount of bleedthrough in my fountain pen samples:

You should be able to see that the Diamine Woodland Green sample written with my M90 showed a lot of bleedthrough, more so than the Noodler's Bulletproof Black sample from my Pilot Capless. I tried out a number of types of pen and pencil, and concur with NB's findings that fountain pens can bleed a lot, and rollerball and felt pens less so, and ballpoints not at all. But the best partner to this memopad is a good old pencil, as the lines will not show through the thin paper.

One thing which struck me in this age of Moleskine and its assorted copies, is that the Metaphys Blanc lacks two of the essential elements of the classic pocket notebook: the page marker ribbon, and the elastic band closure. I find this a bit surprising. First, the cover does not close fully, but stays ajar; look carefully at the first picture. Second, this opening allows foreign objects such as crumbs, bits of fluff, hair, leaf mould etc to accumulate inside the notebook. I suppose the lack of these features marks out the Blanc as sufficiently different to all the Mole knock-offs on the market today, but I found that I missed them. The elastic closure is the most useful feature, in my opinion. In addition, the fabric cover also attracts hair and dust. In fact, I've just brushed off more biscuit crumbs from it.

In summary, then: this is a high-quality pocket memo pad for people with tiny handwriting and who need to keep a memo pad in their shirt pocket. It is pricey, but nonetheless a fine item, even if it could do with an elastic closure. I'll be using it in future.

Thanks again, NB.

Sainsbury's Moleskine Reporter Notebook Knock-Off

I have picked up several of these Moleskine knock-offs on sale now at Sainsbury's. They have 96 sheets (192 pages total) made from 70% recycled material which is finished in an off-white colour. All sheets are detachable, by the look of it. The paper is ruled and looks reasonable quality; a quick test with my Pilot M90 and Parker Blue Quink showed no sign of feathering or bleedthrough, and it takes pencil well enough, too. There's even a little pocket at the back for ticket stubs, receipts, postage stamps, and other kipple. This notebook is covered in black polyurethane, which has a satin finish that picks up fingerprints and grease marks.



The best thing is that they are on sale at 75 pence each, making them less than one-tenth of the price of a Moleskine equivalent, which costs £8.99 and is certainly not ten times better than this. I suspect the low price is a close-out, so if you can get hold of one of these, give it a go.