Smythson Alternative?

[a11en]

Hi everyone!

 

Looking at the Smythson prices, I fear I may have to sell my priceless Marmite collection in order to purchase even a single notebook.

 

I'm intrigued by the very thin paper with no bleed-through (is this even possible?). It appears that Smythson, the founder, purposely made the paper in this manner so that it would be useful in a small notebook. Makes a lot of sense.

 

So- here's the big question- is there a similar but lowercost alternative to the Smythson of Bond Street notebooks? Are they the only manufacturer making this type of notebook- namely thin paper that takes FP's very well?

 

Thanks for the thoughts!

-Allen

Edited December 15, 2006 by a11en

[a11en]

Maybe I should ask this differently- have you guys seen paper or notebooks that take fountain pens very well but have very thin paper? I'm wondering about for instance, the onion-skin paper that I hear about here and there.

 

Where do they sell onion skin paper?

 

Thanks, guys! I appreciate it!

 

-Allen

[jbb]

I don't know of any place selling onion skin but it is nice and thin and takes fountain pens well. Old stock shows up on ebay, at yard sales and in thrift stores. If you send me your mailing address I will mail you a few sheets to test.

[jsonewald]

Japanese notebooks typically use thinner paper than western notebooks do, but it is not as thin as onion-skin. The Apica line is one of the better known. The paper is very FP friendly.

 

Here is a source. I have no experience with the vendor.

 

http://www.thedailyplanner.com/notebooks-j...-c-116_142.html

[sonia_simone]

I'm dying to try Smythson one of these days. I'd rather have it as letter paper, which I think is an option. I just can't bring myself to spend the money, though. (Especially my poor weak little U.S. dollars.)

[a11en]

Oh I know, isn't it insanely expensive?! I guess if you are looking for an image, then that's what happens... the price shoots up. I'm mostly intrigued by the paper. It makes a lot of sense for a pocket notebook to use a lightweight paper and still be FP friendly.

 

Thanks very much for the tip to Apica! Very interesting that the Japanese journals would be like this. And the price looks decent. I'll have to snag a few to try out.

 

Also interesting about onion skin. If I'm thinking right about Onion skin, it's very much like the air-mail paper? Is it transparent, etc? I'm not sure if I should snag some of your precious onion skin from you, jbb. I'd feel bad using it when it's so hard to find just to try it out. Especially if there's nothing I can send back in return!

 

I'm tempted to write to Smythson and see if they can send a test-sheet of the paper they use in their notebooks. If they really are an amazing company to deal with (their prices indicate they should be if they are not), then perhaps they'll send a test sample for me to try out. [if I do, I'll let you know.]

 

Thanks a ton, guys! I appreciate your thoughts! I guess I was a bit intrigued/shocked at the idea of going very lightweight in paper, because I've been going increasingly heavy... usually trying to get around 28 pound stock. I love how the paper handles and takes ink... and whoever tipped me off to the HP laserjet and inkjet paper is to be commended... that is wonderful stuff. Then it hit me that a notebook for the pocket with 28 pound paper wouldn't have many pages, and I went: "Oh!" I get it. :roflmho: So, that's why I'm intrigued.

 

Thanks for your thoughts and pointers, everyone!!

-Allen

 

ps- an aside about luxury brands:

I'm still kicking myself over Dunhill's move away from their heritage of pipes and tobacco to clothing that the Hollywood types feel they must wear. Guess they liked how Burberry turned out. Burberry outfitted both Amundsen and Ernest Shackleton's South Pole Expeditions as well as being commissioned by the war-office for uniforms in the early 1900s- creators of Gabardine waterproof fabric. Sad that these companies become more about an image and less about product.

[DilettanteG]

I've already posted the links in the Marketplace, but if you're dying to try Symthson they have a number of blank notebooks and a larger silk floppy manuscript on sell at the moment. The cheapest is $9, and the Manuscript book is $33 for 192 pages. Not that that's "cheap" but it beats the #$%^& out of their normally exorbitant prices.

 

No connection to the company, but since this sale is cheaper than the eBay prices I normally pay; I thought I'd pass it along.

 

Cheers,

Kate, paper pusher

[garyc]

ps- an aside about luxury brands:

I'm still kicking myself over Dunhill's move away from their heritage of pipes and tobacco to clothing that the Hollywood types feel they must wear.    Guess they liked how Burberry turned out.  Burberry outfitted both Amundsen and Ernest Shackleton's South Pole Expeditions as well as being commissioned by the war-office for uniforms in the early 1900s- creators of Gabardine waterproof fabric.  Sad that these companies become more about an image and less about product.

.. speaking of Burberry, a piece on the BBC last night interviewed worker at one of their factories in Wales which is being closed in preference to production in China.

 

Its quite ironic that the classic Burberry brown plaid pattern has been taken up by the so called 'chavs' in the UK with the Burberry baseball cap and Vauxhall Nova 2 door and baked bean can exhaust now a brand example that the company might wish to disassociate itself with.

 

Having said that, I did see an elderly example of the 'horsey set' in a green quilted gilet with Burberry baseball cap in Waitrose (up market supermarket in the UK) in 'downtown' Wantage the other day.

 

I fervently hope FPs will not fall victim to this brand dilution, but it does make you think whether there still will be a market for these 'upmarket' brands.

[a11en]

Hey Garyc!

 

Interesting! BBC ran a piece on Burberry eh? Very cool. I'll have to look that one up. I'm quite sure the company is happy with the sales of the product, but unhappy with the image. I do fear that the recent ownership of Dunhill will be more interested in chic product and less interested in its long heritage- well, let's say they'll exploit their heritage in order to obtain sales. To some extent these luxury companies have purposely done this I believe- most likely due to high markup. What is interesting to me, is that instead of a new company with a chic following, these guys are old well respected companies with chic followings. Strange.

 

Then again, they're likely just following sales figures. It's quite apparent to me that Dunhill has run from its hand-blended tobacco and oil-cured briar pipes which were the company staple of old. And in this day of second-hand smoke insanity, perhaps that is a good move... But, to me, Dunhill will always mean the white-dot on the cumberland stem.

 

I do also hope that FP's can keep their quality and sales up. Parker "51" and how it changed and the "21"'s introduction is a bit of an example of how quality was changed. Although, I have to admit, I'm not sure how long they would have kept up the hand-machining of all those parts. Must have been very expensive.

 

It's good that there are a ton of wonderful FP companies out there still... and I hope that they can keep all their product going strong. I for one have been very happy to find out about them, and purchase when I can. And I have FPN to thank for the wonderful knowledge I've gained!!

 

I may be getting one of their journals on sale. If I do, I'll be doing a review of the paper and post here with scanned examples.

 

Great to meet you Gary!

-Allen

 

ps- I'm sorry I got on my soap-box here, guys. Please forgive me!

[a11en]

Well, I bit the bullet on a sale item from Smythson. Hopefully will have a review coming sometime soon. My initial thoughts are as follows: not sure I like the blue paper much- may prefer it white, paper is quite lightweight, much thinner than normal paper, but it still has some heft to it- not sure how to explain that- perhaps the density is similar to normal paper, but it's pressed very hard? I'm unsure, and finally- the gilt edge and watermarking and smythson name at the bottom of the page is a bit much. I think they could carry of something like this with just a watermark and nothing further.

 

Ok, give me some time to bit the bullet and get some words on the page. I'll try and test my meager range of inks and pens when I get a chance and post here.

 

Thanks for the heads up on the sale, Kate! I couldn't have afforded this book any other way, at least until I got a serious job (and even then, probably shouldn't spend on notebooks.

 

My GF didn't really understand until she saw the box with the ribbon and the tissue-paper, etc., etc... silly girls that like frilly things. [just kidding...]

 

-Allen

 

ps- someone snagged a ton of the Smythson product (I think) and is now selling it on ebay. The small "shed-notes" which was wafer-sized is showing up- sale price was $10.00 believe it or not. [i should have bought immediately when I saw that.] And I think I saw it last for $35 or so and still going strong. So, someone is making some money I believe...