Expensive Notebooks & Journals

[Dino Silone]

I was just reading the Epica thread, and was wondering about journals that cost upwards of $150. I've been given a couple of journals like that as gifts, and found that, despite my firmest resolve and best intentions, I CANNOT bring myself to write anything in them. (I'm lying a little - I did once write my name and address on the flyleaf of one. But that was as far as it went.)

 

I have no trouble writing in other notebooks, though my comfort level in writing is inversely proportional to the price. I usually use composition notebooks with Brazilian paper, or the Staples Bagasse spiral-bound notebooks. Both are fountain-pen friendly. I buy them when they're on sale during the summer, and have paid as little as ten cents apiece for the composition notebooks. I fill these rapidly, mostly with unmitigated emphaloskeptic garbage - but at least it flows. The more expensive a notebook is, the more of a feeling I have that what I write in it has to be "worthy". And once a notebook gets to be more than $10 or so, I'm totally blocked. (I guess this means that I don't believe my thoughts are worth more than $10 a pound...)

 

Does anybody else have trouble writing in a really expensive notebook/journal?

[bitterwonder]

One of the things i try to teach my students is to recognize and appreciate decent materials.

While i would never use an item with leather as a component, i do draw on good paper.

 

I try not to think of cost of a materials when i use it, if i do it gets intimidating, especially for those of us who need materials to work and are on limited income.

 

I find that students, if they get used to "cheap" paper will never be able to draw on decent paper.

So, pretend your expensive paper isn't.

 

Besides, you will never learn the differences in materials if you don't use them.

[Alexandra]

I don't find them intimidating, just out of range. $150 for a journal is WAY out of range for something I will use up in just a few months. Now, if you're talking $150 for a pen....

[humblescribbler]

I received one of these Epicas as a gift from my daughters and felt the same way. It helped me to remember that even "quality" paper is still just paper. As far as the created effort being "worthy", the journal already exists in time and space, so I may as well fill it with my (sometimes) solipsistic meanderings! The journal's existence is otherwise pointless, and will thus merely be unfulfilled and empty when I'm dead and gone.

Guilt free and honest journaling is ALWAYS worthy.

 

(Or sell it for pen and ink money!)

[Alexandra]

I received one of these Epicas as a gift from my daughters and felt the same way. It helped me to remember that even "quality" paper is still just paper. As far as the created effort being "worthy", the journal already exists in time and space, so I may as well fill it with my (sometimes) solipsistic meanderings! The journal's existence is otherwise pointless, and will thus merely be unfulfilled and empty when I'm dead and gone.

Guilt free and honest journaling is ALWAYS worthy.

 

(Or sell it for pen and ink money!)

 

What a nice gift. Knowing its value will certainly make you more mindful of what you put in it. It would have that effect on me anyway.

[Dino Silone]

I received one of these Epicas as a gift from my daughters and felt the same way. It helped me to remember that even "quality" paper is still just paper. As far as the created effort being "worthy", the journal already exists in time and space, so I may as well fill it with my (sometimes) solipsistic meanderings! The journal's existence is otherwise pointless, and will thus merely be unfulfilled and empty when I'm dead and gone.

Guilt free and honest journaling is ALWAYS worthy.

 

(Or sell it for pen and ink money!)

All good points. And I hadn't considered the last! I could buy many years worth of my composition notebooks for what I could get for some of those leather bound journals I haven't been able to write in!

[stefanv]

emphaloskeptic garbage

 

I think you spelled that wrong. I think it's "omphaloskeptic", or rather "omphaloskeptical", the latter being the adjective, and the former a person who does it. Of course, my browser's spell checker thinks all three are wrong. It suggests "encephalographic", which I think means one has "writing on the brain". :)

 

The biggest thing I fear about writing in any new notebook (but more so in proportion to the cost of the book), is making a mistake on the first page.

 

My other big fear is finding out after writing on a page (at which point I cannot return it) that the notebook is not fountain pen friendly.

 

Stefan

Edited November 20, 2012 by stefanv

[HildyZ]

Good lord, yes. I haven't been able to pull the trigger on that Tomoe River paper, because once it arrives I won't be able to write on it. At least you're a man who knows his price. I think mine is somewhere around $10/lb, too.

 

On the other hand, when my grandmother died and my parents were cleaning out her house, they found all kinds of lovely embroidered table linens and china that no one even knew existed. She was saving them for "good" or a "special occasion". It never came, and she never got to enjoy them. I try to remember that this is as special as it gets. Go ahead and use what you have. I bet the Pope's diary says something like, "Need new shoes. Cardinals won't shut up. Hat to tight."

[Adventurer]

I've seen this in every hobby I've ever had, and in daily life... When I was making custom knives for a living-- I HATED collectors, they would admire and love my work, but whats the point if it sits on a shelf for the next hundred years? All of the care and work of making it wasted.

 

My philospohy has always been, it was made to be used, so not using it is a direct insult to the person that made it...

 

So, I wear my $200 watch, Use and don't worry about my $300 pocket knife, wear my high end cowboy boots and hats in all weather and muck... I have $250one of a kind tools that are used, abused, dropped, and tortured daily. A $150 journal? If its that nice of quality to cost that much, then I am absolutely going to enjoy every aspect of it, in writing in it, and then theoretically, it should last for a looong time after, to be read and enjoyed later.

 

You buy quality for a reason; to use that quality-- if your just gonna stare at it, you might as well get the cheapest Cr@p you can, IMNSHO.

 

G.

[kcnightfang]

I've always believed that one should get something in the higher end of each type of thing so that they know how the best works, and get used to that, otherwise bad habits get built. That applies more to musical instruments and pens, as opposed to paper, but I find that I write better in my Rhodia Webbies, than I ever did in my Moleskines.

 

For me, just getting through the barrier of writing on any paper is all it takes. My major barrier is that I want to have my fiction writing all organized *before* it hits the page (which is silly), and figuring out the theme of each notebook, so I'm putting the appropriate thing in each place.

[humblescribbler]

For me, just getting through the barrier of writing on any paper is all it takes. My major barrier is that I want to have my fiction writing all organized *before* it hits the page (which is silly), and figuring out the theme of each notebook, so I'm putting the appropriate thing in each place.

 

This isn't a silly mental process at all! It's fearsome! Nothing worse than unmet potential, and brand new empty journals are nothing if not symbolic of all that unrecorded genius and potential written power. Then, when my ideas actually hit the paper, and I see notebooks filled with the banal, I"ve learned to cull for gems. Sifting the ore (to stretch THAT metaphor!) in order to hit anything gold requires LOTS of ore. So gosh-darn the paper cost, full pens ahead!

 

Oh, and kcnightfang,

[betsypreston]

Use it!

 

I agree with the previous posts that things are meant to be used. No matter what it costs, it's a waste if you aren't using it.

 

It doesn't sound like you plan to keep it as an investment (I laugh inside cuz it's probably not a good one) or that it's something you appreciate in its pristine state. So go ahead and ink it up! Doesn't matter if you start using it as a journal, then decide it'd be better to use it for work planning or for a correspondence log, and then back to a journal. It's not the end of the world if you don't find the "perfect" use for it on your first try.

[HildyZ]

"le mieux est l'ennemi du bien"

Perfect is the enemy of good.

 

--Voltaire

[kcnightfang]

For me, just getting through the barrier of writing on any paper is all it takes. My major barrier is that I want to have my fiction writing all organized *before* it hits the page (which is silly), and figuring out the theme of each notebook, so I'm putting the appropriate thing in each place.

 

This isn't a silly mental process at all! It's fearsome! Nothing worse than unmet potential, and brand new empty journals are nothing if not symbolic of all that unrecorded genius and potential written power. Then, when my ideas actually hit the paper, and I see notebooks filled with the banal, I"ve learned to cull for gems. Sifting the ore (to stretch THAT metaphor!) in order to hit anything gold requires LOTS of ore. So gosh-darn the paper cost, full pens ahead!

 

Oh, and kcnightfang,

 

Thank you very much! It is indeed scary. I have a pocket Moleskine where I can throw just any idea, but I'm an inveterate fiddler with my systems, so I keep trying to have a system, when my system should be writing everything down, and then sort it out. It's a hard gap to bridge, but I'm getting better. The trick now is deciding what paper and pen to use, which generally isn't that hard. The other thing I have to do is set up files for character ideas, and story ideas that I really want to work on.

[requiescat]

I get intimidated by very expensive journals too, but I'll use the nicer ones (none as nice as an Epica!) if I get one as a gift. But I guess my bigger concern is I blow through notebooks like whoa; if I got used to Design Y journals (because I kind of crave one anyway, having tried Tomoe River paper once thanks to the kindness of a penpal) I will want to use them forevermore and I can't afford to.

 

Strangely, I have never felt that inhibition with sketchbooks. I'm a hobbyist, not an artist, but I hate inking on bad paper. It's just writing where I feel intimidated. Maybe after years of writing on terrible paper with the cheapest ballpoints possible while standing in lunch line.

[Dino Silone]

I understand the idea of buying quality, which I've always defined in terms of something being suitable for an intended use. I have to admit I don't "get" the $150 notebook, or the $200 watch, etc. My made-in-Brazil composition notebooks and bagasse spiral notebooks from Staples are filled with paper that doesn't show through when I write on it (or minimally shows through with my wettest writing pens and inks), doesn't feather, feels good to write on, allows me to write on both sides. The notebooks are a great size to hold, carry and write in. They fit in my messenger bag. They're reasonably light to carry around. The hard covers let me use my thigh as a desk if I have to. They sit flat on a table and stay open to the page I left them open to. They're cheap, but durable enough - I have yet to have one fall apart before I was done with it (or after I was done with it, for that matter.) So I'm not sure I get the point about buying the "best" so that I know what that's like. A leather binding and fancy name doesn't make a notebook better, it just makes it fancier and more expensive.

 

But I'm also getting the point that, once you've got the thing, there's no reason not to use it for whatever you'd use a $1 notebook from Staples for - at the end of the day, no matter how fancy it is, or how much somebody paid for it, it's just a notebook...

[kcnightfang]

Some of what I said about knowing the best applies much more to musical instruments, which is where I developed my philosophy. As far as notebooks go, I like leather, but I wouldn't go out of my way for it. I know I would never spend $150 on a notebook, but if someone gave me one, I would use it. I think for notebooks it would apply in the idea that someone who has never used, say Clairfontaine, just Moleskine, wouldn't know how smooth paper could be, or how little show-through is possible. The key thing for me is appropriateness, use what works best for you. I just like to have nice stuff so everything works well together.

[Gcouch]

I wouldn't buy anything over $50. I jusrt can't justify the price as a $20 moleskine has never failed me.

[Nevets]

Doodlers, Sketchers and Scribblers All. This is a copy of the email I just sent to Epica. As they say, it's a long story, but speaks well to expensive journals, fountain pens, and one's life works. This is a true story about the World's Second Largest Journal:

 

Dear Tari. You have me mistaken for a normal person. I am legally disabled. I do not use the telephone, I use relay and email. I am both intellectually disabled and I have a mobility handicap. You have suggested pictures. I stopped my assistant from shipping your journal back to you FedEx at your suggestion and at some inconvenience.

 

Epica makes extravagant, and let’s admit it, pretentious journals. Other than journals made from paper with the Amalfi watermark, we don’t know from where the paper comes.

 

Everybody Else who writes with a fountain pen becomes, sooner or later, an expert in paper. Set an inked line to the surface and you know volumes about the sizing and fiber content. Hold your squiggles up to the light and with a conservator’s eye you can speak to the chemistry of the bleed.

 

I am a 50-year collector of blank bound books and paper from around the world. I recently purchased Epica’s “World’s Second Largest Journal”. Normally, I am known, relatively, as an impatient person. I am customer service challenged.

 

Seriously, if I may digress, I am a diagnosed verbal savant when I was nine years old. Yes, they did have psychiatrists that long ago, for whatever it was worth. A long time ago, one would say.

 

Today, the rest of my brain is called, ‘intellectually challenged’; but when I was diagnosed, we were called idiot-savants. Recently, I was told I was terminally ill by a doctor (as much as another person can tell you when you are going to die). This makes me more impatient than usual.

 

I ordered the World’s Second Largest Journal from Epica. Not just because it was on sale for $1,000, but because time is running short for me. So I think. I want to glue about 600 botanical illustrations I have water colored, with stories about being a “Terminal Idiot Savant in the 21st Century”.

 

Everybody Else is always trying to find me ‘things to do with my hands’ (other than holding my new fountain pen from Carmen). I have studied bookbinding. I have books about bookbinding. I have taken bookbinding classes. My Grandfather collected rare bound books. Okay. I am no expert, but I know a thing or two about book bindings.

 

My World’s Second Largest Journal arrived safely and carefully packed, wrapped in tissue, clean wrapping paper and carefully folded cardboard inserts. The outer box is almost three foot square.

 

Inside, the World’s Second Largest Book is covered in leather of moderate quality. The pages are, as advertised, what appears to be about 400 deckled pages 14” x 20” 28lb paper. I do not know who makes this paper. I do not know if it is truly acid and chlorine free archival paper.

 

Time is short for me. True, I am a skeptic. I purchased Epica blank books before for special projects. Now, I prefer artisan, one of a kind, hand bound books for quality of materials. Until now, I have believed Epica books make an acceptable commercial presentation.

 

When I opened the World's Second Largest Book, the end papers did not appear to be handmade paper, but they were solid. This is important, especially in a large book, because when the book is opened, these papers will stretch and if not installed properly, they will tear away from the body of the book. Also, in poorer bindings, this is the only thing that will hold the book to the boards, or covers.

 

As one is tempted to do, carefully, with any book, I thumbed the pages. I didn’t say anything. I inhaled sharply. My face betrayed me. My assistant asked what was wrong. The signatures of my book, the sections of paper that are sewn to the binding, a signature at the front and back of the book each, had completely split from the binding and were hanging by threads.

 

I am not an expert in parcel freight. I do remember helping my Grandfather in his shop, packing books for shipping. In 50 years, I do not recall ever seeing a binding damaged in this manner by shipping. This is caused, usually, by splaying the binding, or bending the book backwards from its flat position.

 

Naturally, I am impatient. I wrote Epica immediately. Customer service thanked me for my note. Too bad, they said, I had already shipped the journal back. They would have paid for postage (I don’t know what donkey freight is, but Epica made it clear they would not pay shipping, if I shipped their damaged book back too quickly). Too bad, they said, I didn’t have photographs

 

I contacted my assistant and stopped shipment. We will take photographs. We will wait for Epica to pay for shipping. I am too sick and impatient for grudges. Time is short. I am delayed. One always hopes for good reasons. I’m sharing this story on the pen network, because I think it makes a good story about fountain pens and paper. It is a true story about Epica journals.

 

I am going to continue my project in loose leaf binders. Everybody Else who knows me, will see my watercolors and my stories for what they are, flaws and all, without a binding. One lesson here, it’s not the expense of the covers, but the content of the book. Of course, beautiful covers are impressive, but I assure you, for $1,000, you can employ an artisan bookbinder for your special project.

 

I am sorry Epica, I cannot do this today or on Monday, although I am impatient to send your book back to you, because I have medical appointments and procedures on Monday. I am old, too. On Tuesday, I will photograph the damage and critique the binding. Truly, I am disabled and it takes me a longer time than Everybody Else to do things.

 

Time is short for me, although I think it is likely for everybody else, too. I will take photographs. I will post them on the Fountain Pen Network as Part Two of my review of Epica Journals. This post is true to the best of my ability. No part may be reproduced without my permission (you can show your friends, on the Fountain Pen Network). Nevets. (also my electronic signature by law when I don’t have my fountain pen)

[Lyander0012]

Honestly, I've yet to invest in a second expensive journal. I caved in and bought a Derwent carnet the other month (roughly five or six weeks ago), though I've yet to fill more than ten of its 60 or so pages. The fact that the paper, despite being 100gsm, had a matte finish and a rough trim, meaning that it is more suited to pencils than fountain pens.

 

It was an honest mistake, my having no idea whatsoever about the many brands of (high quality) notebooks and their varied characteristics. At least now I know that I ought to stick to Rhodia, Clairefontaine, etc. Paying 15USD for a notebook wherein my FP leaves a *mildly* feathered, grainy-looking, and extremely thick line was a really stupid move on my part, made even more so because I bought a notebook without doing any prior research on it.

 

In my defense, though, I lucked out once by doing the self-same thing. That was with relatively obscure headphones, though, so I doubt that I ought to keep up that behaviour here with fountain pens (haha).

 

Anyway, moral lesson of my story:

RESEARCH anything before making any final decisions, or at least ask to try whatever it is you wish to purchase out.

 

P.S. (A short rant)

 

On a somewhat unrelated note, though the paper is excellent for pencil and charcoal (have yet to try water colour with it, though I doubt it'd work out very well), Derwent still thought to line the notebook. What's the point of a lined notebook that doesn't take to FPs very well (there ARE ballpoints and roller balls, though), or paper so excellently suited to sketching that is marred by lines?

 

The fault still lies with me for the impulse buy, though