The Paper Plane : Endless Recorder A5 Notebook

[namrehsnoom]

The Paper Plane – Endless Recorder A5 Notebook

I've been enjoying this little corner of the web for some time now, mainly focusing on inks and pens. But these are more or less useless without the humble paper or notebook that will let you capture your thoughts. So here comes the "Paper Plane", where I review some of the paper and notebooks that I've enjoyed using over the years. Today's guest is the Endless Recorder A5 notebook, a minimalist notebook with some very fine paper.

This notebook is produced by Endless Works, a company that clearly states its focus on simplicity, aesthetics and service. With this notebook they really succeed on all fronts, as will become clear during this review. The notebook comes packaged in a cool cotton bag with an integrated pen loop. Nice packaging, aesthetically pleasing, but not really practical. The pen-loop is pretty useless... just try to insert a pen into a loop attached to a cotton bag... an exercise in frustration. Anyway - I don't see anyone using this bag to stow their notebook away.

But enough of the bag. It's what's inside that counts. And within this bag comes a gem of a notebook.

I got me the plain version of the Endless Recorder, but there's also a dotted version for those who prefer this. The notebook has a truly minimalist look... it's just a plain notebook with a ribbon to mark your place and an elastic band to keep it closed. That's basically it. The notebook comes with some goodies, including a ruled/lined sheet that you can use as a guide while writing on the blank pages.

The notebook's cover is almost brand-free. The front shows the small embossed "Endless" logo, and the back mentions the brand's name. The cover itself is made from faux-leather that feels nice to the touch.

At the back of the notebook a sleeve is provided, that you can use to stow away some loose scraps of paper. This is a feature that I appreciate... I often use this to store away businesscards, receipts, etc before processing them in the evening.

Putting all of this together, you basically get the Moleskine look & feel. The only difference being that this notebook is A5 size, and a bit wider than a standard Moleskine notebook (14cm vs 13cm). Back in my ballpoint days, I really liked the Moleskine for its elegant simplicity. But once I discovered fountain pens, the days of Moleskine ended for me due to its horrible fountain-pen unfriendly paper.

Enter the Endless Recorder. This is the Moleskine made for fountain pen enthousiasts. It contains 192 pages of 68 gsm Tomoe River paper. And this paper is sublime. It's a bit heavier than the standard 52 gsm Tomoe River paper I normally use. This makes it feel a bit less flimsy, and better suited for a notebook. This paper is fountain pen heaven! There is zero bleed-through, even with ink swabs using wet inks. Show-through is present, but not disturbing. It's perfectly ok to use both sides of the page. This paper can handle basically anything you throw at it. Super !

Below I show you the front & back of a page, on which I scribbled away with different pen/ink combinations. As you can see, you get the experience you expect from Tomoe River paper.

Conclusion

If you like minimalist notebooks, the Endless Recorder is definitely worth looking at. This is basically the Moleskine for fountain pen enthousiasts. The same look&feel, but with divine paper instead of the crappy stuff that Moleskine uses. I use my notebook as a meeting notes recorder, and am perfectly happy with it.

[The Good Captain]

They look interesting. I wonder what the delivery charges would be to the UK as these books would appear to be made in India.

[namrehsnoom]

They look interesting. I wonder what the delivery charges would be to the UK as these books would appear to be made in India.

I got it from La Couronne du Comte. And I think Pen Chalet also has them.

[The Good Captain]

I got it from La Couronne du Comte. And I think Pen Chalet also has them.

That's great - thankd for the info.

[inkstainedruth]

Do you know if they come in any other sizes?

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Newjelan]

Thanks for a great review of what looks to be an excellent notebook.

[MHBru]

The US search is on!

[XYZZY]

The US search is on!

Goulet has them. Just start typing "endless" in their search box.

[XYZZY]

Thanks for this review! A question about this picture...

 

 

 

Does it lay that flat ON ITS OWN? Or did you have a run your finger down the fold with some pressure to make it do that? I really like the Bond Travel Gear because it falls flat on its own but, alas, those are temporarily out of production. As a counter example, I'm mostly happy with the Taroko Enigma but with each page I get increasingly tired of running a thumb down the center to get it flat: it's a lay flat binding but they use so much glue in the binding that it doesn't want to fall flat on its own.

 

Also, I find it ironic that Endless states they are focused on simplicity yet includes that bag. And a registration card. And a thankyou card. And the lined paper. And a sticker. And a plastic bag for the sticker. Most of that is (not simple) common add-ins, but the bag seems like going out of the way to add in something extra just for the sake of standing out. Sorry for that rant, but extra stuff for the landfill bothers me.

Edited May 22, 2019 by XYZZY

[DrDebG]

Thank you for this great review.

 

I saw these on the Pen Chalet website and almost bought one. I do have quiet a few notebooks right now, and really don't need another. But, I might just have to try one.

[namrehsnoom]

Thanks for this review! A question about this picture...

 

Does it lay that flat ON ITS OWN? Or did you have a run your finger down the fold with some pressure to make it do that?

 

Also, I find it ironic that Endless states they are focused on simplicity yet includes that bag. And a registration card. And a thankyou card. And the lined paper. And a sticker. And a plastic bag for the sticker. Most of that is (not simple) common add-ins, but the bad seems like going out of the way to add in something extra just for the sake of standing out. Sorry for that rant, but extra stuff for the landfill bothers me.

Well, it mostly stays flat on its own. The pages are bound in bundles of 9 double pages, threaded in the middle. If you are near the center of a bundle, the pages tend to stay flat, more at the ends of the bundle, some flattening by hand is needed. Not sure how to explain this more clearly, but I hope you get what I mean.

 

The extra packaging is indeed overkill, but the notebook itself is really simple. But I agree... I only kept the guider sheet, and dumped the rest of the packaging.

[inkstainedruth]

Thanks for this review! A question about this picture...

 

 

Does it lay that flat ON ITS OWN? Or did you have a run your finger down the fold with some pressure to make it do that? I really like the Bond Travel Gear because it falls flat on its own but, alas, those are temporarily out of production. As a counter example, I'm mostly happy with the Taroko Enigma but with each page I get increasingly tired of running a thumb down the center to get it flat: it's a lay flat binding but they use so much glue in the binding that it doesn't want to fall flat on its own.

 

Also, I find it ironic that Endless states they are focused on simplicity yet includes that bag. And a registration card. And a thankyou card. And the lined paper. And a sticker. And a plastic bag for the sticker. Most of that is (not simple) common add-ins, but the bad seems like going out of the way to add in something extra just for the sake of standing out. Sorry for that rant, but extra stuff for the landfill bothers me.

 

Well, I could see that the bag being used again for some other purpose, depending on the quality of the fabric. The thank you card can be recycled. The registration card for a notebook? That does seem a bit excessive. The sticker is kinda fun (I have a few on the lid for my laptop, including one for International Fountain Pen Day ) and well, the plastic wrapping is probably to keep it clean in transit. But hey, I've gotten packages of gummy bears included with my orders from Missing Pens -- and with my crowns? I can't put anything sticky like that in my mouth anymore -- not after pulling a crown with a spice drop a few yeas ago....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Karmachanic]

They look interesting. I wonder what the delivery charges would be to the UK as these books would appear to be made in India.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Endless-Recorder-Tomoe-River-68-GSM-Notebook-Medium-A5-213-x-142mm-192-Pages/303136615211?hash=item469459ab2b:m:mw0ypmaBO8oqnWHVxN-YTYA

Free UK delivery.

 

Edited May 23, 2019 by Karmachanic

[The Good Captain]

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Endless-Recorder-Tomoe-River-68-GSM-Notebook-Medium-A5-213-x-142mm-192-Pages/303136615211?hash=item469459ab2b:m:mw0ypmaBO8oqnWHVxN-YTYA

Free UK delivery.

 

GREAT! Thanks for this and I had a £5.00 eBay voucher just waiting to be used as well.

[Thymen]

Just received two of these notebook, Indeed a very un-assuming product, with the best paper I have come across so far.

 

The paper in my Rhodia notebook is not to my liking. Different from the Rhodia notepads, and with a smoothness that makes my pens squeak.

 

I was looking for an A4-size notebook with Tomoe paper, preferably the 68 g/m2, so far have not been able to find one. So if anyone knows where to get these, please let me know.

 

Thymen

[Tony_Perez]

Thank you very much for bringing this notebook to my attention! I have always loved the Moleskin notebooks, but as you have correctly pointed out, they simply don't work for FPs.

 

Forgive me if this has already been addressed, but I was wondering what the dry times are like? I'm looking for a notebook for note-taking in class and so I need a fast dry time.

 

Thank you for your time,

 

/ATP

[namrehsnoom]

Forgive me if this has already been addressed, but I was wondering what the dry times are like? I'm looking for a notebook for note-taking in class and so I need a fast dry time.

 

I use mine at work, but I admit that I typically use a dry fountain pen in that setting - Lamy Safari with F or M nib. In that case dry times are quite ok with most inks.

[Karmachanic]

Forgive me if this has already been addressed, but I was wondering what the dry times are like? I'm looking for a notebook for note-taking in class and so I need a fast dry time.

 

 

Use a fine nib, Pelikan 4001 ink, and scribble away without concern

 

[Newjelan]

These are great notebooks. Following this review I bought one. Then I started using it which lead me to buying several more.

[LyaT]

I like it a lot. A nice 68g tomoe river with hard cover. Easily available in Lcdc. Very handy for us in Europe.

 

I still like seven seas better, but that shipping cost is too high across the pond!