Homage to the composition notebook

[rosemaryknits]

Has anyone used the Mead brand? I'm trying to find a composition book with more than 100 sheets, and I heard Mead makes such books. How's the paper? Is Norcom's Brazil paper really the best?

 

I've picked up some good Meads through the years. Some of the Mead ones are made in Brazil, too. I have a feeling that there's one big notebook factory in Brazil and they put who-ever's covers on them because all of the ones from Brazil are nice, no matter the brand name.

 

Once you study the paper, you ought to be able to spot something similar in the store. It's almost as if it's glazed - it's very bright white, and very VERY smooth and "hard" surfaced. If you look really really closely, you can't see any fibers in the Brazilian ones, but papers of Non-FP Friendliness have visible fibers - often times exceedingly tiny, but if you really squint at it, you'll see that they are there. Some of the N-FP F ones have *quite* noticable fibers, to the point that it seems like paper napkins.

 

Keep looking. Even if you find a *good* notebook at $3 - it would be expensive for a composition book, but exceedingly cheap for a longtime journal, yes?

 

Also, Mead makes a plastic-covered, college ruled notebook with very nice paper, too. The "marble" ones are often bought for around $1, and the plastic covered ones generally run about $4 - still a bargain in my book. (pun!)

 

Cheers!

Rosemary

 

 

 

[Steveareno]

The only complaint I have about the Mead comp books with the plastic covers is that the covers seen to warp and want to curl up, which I find strange since they are mostly plastic. Also the cloth binding on them wants to come unglued more than on the cardboard versions. I like college-ruled composition books, but they can be hard to find in most big office supply outlets. A local college tends to cary the Norcom composition books with Brazil paper in college rule, so college bookstores may be better sources for that style.

[eherreid]

I've had the same problem with the Mead 5-star comp books with the plastic cover. I bought one thinking it would be sturdier than the regular ones (and at the time I was turning my nose up at anything wide ruled...I've since come to prefer it for a lot of writing). The cover is a warped and twisted mess, and I swear, I'm not *that* hard on my notebooks. I don't think it was exposed to anything worse than damp weather.

 

I've yet to break one of the cardboard ones. I think I had to replace the binding tape on a few, but nothing more. And the leather cover, over-the-top luxury though it is, will solve that issue.

[rosemaryknits]

I've had the same problem with the Mead 5-star comp books with the plastic cover. ...snip...the cover is a warped and twisted mess,...snip...

I've yet to break one of the cardboard ones. I think I had to replace the binding tape on a few, but nothing more. And the leather cover, over-the-top luxury though it is, will solve that issue.

 

Hmmm... that's really odd. I dug out all of my old Mead plastic covered ones, and they are all just fine. Trust me when I say that the ones used by my kids weren't babied at all, heh heh heh. One of my kids cut designs into his, using an Xacto knife to do the cutting, and even that one is still nice and straight. Hmmm... wonder what's up with yours warping and twisting? How on earth can it twist?

 

I agree that the cardboard ones are pretty indestructible, providing you don't get one that it cardboard all the way around. Those crack in the spine with the first week of use. The ones with cardboard fronts and backs, and paper-tape spines last and last. I've had to reinforce a couple with duck tape, and one came unsewn, but I sewed it back together, and re-duck-taped it, and dragged it around for another year. I use these as my "day planners" so they get handled numerous times every day. I love 'em.

[eherreid]

My guess is that because it's essentially plastic over cardboard, the two materials expanded at a different rate. I've seen them in the store here with already curling covers, so it isn't just me. I guess they just don't like humidity?

 

It's still usable, but still...it irks me. If I was completely sold on college ruling, I'd live with it, as they're the most universally available comp book with the narrower ruling. But lucky for me, I'm perfectly happy with the regular kind. ;-)

[rosemaryknits]

My guess is that because it's essentially plastic over cardboard, the two materials expanded at a different rate. ...snip...I guess they just don't like humidity?

 

...snip... But lucky for me, I'm perfectly happy with the regular kind. ;-)

 

Maybe that's it - I live in the desert - absolutely NO humidity problems, here, only dried out Fountain pens! Yes, I'm perfectly happy with the regular kind, too. I also like that, at certain times of the year, I can buy them for around 20 cents.

 

Cheers!

Rosemary

[Sailor Kenshin]

My guess is that because it's essentially plastic over cardboard, the two materials expanded at a different rate. I've seen them in the store here with already curling covers, so it isn't just me. I guess they just don't like humidity?

 

It's still usable, but still...it irks me. If I was completely sold on college ruling, I'd live with it, as they're the most universally available comp book with the narrower ruling. But lucky for me, I'm perfectly happy with the regular kind. ;-)

 

If they are cardboard covered in plastic, that could happen. The ones I had bought years ago from Target had all-plastic covers, thin and translucent and in many different color/pattern combos. I was seduced by teh purdy, but I don't really like the paper inside.

 

Once I made a very ugly cover for comp notebooks out of an old pair of jeans (hey, built-in pockets!)

 

I think I could do better at it now, if I ever tried a second one.

 

[bphollin]

I recently found some Roaring Springs comp. books in my university bookstore, and they were made in PA...

Funny, I just picked up a few Roaring Springs myself, in the unlined 50pp/100 sheet variety. The binding is great, but the paper is super thin. I only write on one side, so that's not such a big deal. I love these slim books; they're perfect for projects.

[HerosNSuch]

I remember putting radio station and concert promotion stickers(the free ones) all over these in high school and in college. They were hideous(school issue at the h.s. bookstore was yellow or blue) but the paper is great for FP and Gel BP that I loved them. The freebie stickers were just to make them easier on the eyes.

 

I still don't understand the blue and yellow color scheme. The blue fit with the school colors but the yellow was off the wall completely. I guess they got a good deal somewhere on the colors that looked only slightly better than the North end of a Southbound mule.

[MsLoathsome]

I love comp books. I took one with me to China in 2007 as my travel journal and managed to pack all of my observations in one book, so it's great to pull out that one volume and be able to relive my trip in its entirety. I also took notes of addresses, directions, and Chinese vocabulary in the margins and back, so it's fun to read those little details and reminders. Recently I went to Staples and, based on another thread, bought four comp books made of bagasse sugarcane paper. Those books are great because they don't have the ugly black and white marbled covers, but instead a nice plain brown cardboard cover. And the paper inside is great for fountain pens: very smooth, no bleed through but some show through on back side. The price is right at $2.49. When I was cleaning my desk the other day, I found some fancy wrapping paper based on William Morris designs and folded myself a paper cover for the comp books. I plan to use them as my journals. Maybe one day I'll buy myself a fancy comp book cover from Ren Arts! I would love to have a place to safely clip my pen along with the book.

[bwnewton]

I've been using composition notebooks off and on for prayer journals for several years. They've always worked fine with my fountain pens even before I knew what to look for in quality paper suitable for fountain pens. I never used a composition notebook throughout my K-12 years. It wasn't until after I served four years in the USAF and then went to Johnson Bible College to study to be an elementary school teacher that I finally was required to use one in a western civilization class. After I graduated from college, I went to Puerto Rico to teach at a K-8 school. At that time 1990-94, composition notebooks were the most common notebook used throughout the whole commonwealth. During my PR years is when I started using FPs. I received two as gifts. One was a Cross Century Classic and the other a Parker 88. Both are great pens and I still use them regularly.

 

I'd gotten away from using the black & white marbled notebooks until reading this thread. So, I went to my local W-M and bought a Norcom with Brazilian paper. Works fantastic. No feathering or bleed-through using Noodler's Bulletproof black ink.

 

Thanks for the inspiration!

[Sailor Kenshin]

I just found what I'll call a mini-composition notebook at Target, three for a dollar. They have varying cover design, mostly floral, and some interior embellishment (ie: a butterfly or other element) on each lined page. Stapled, rather than stitched.

 

They seem to take the ink fairly well, but there is some show-through. Still, whatcha want at three for a buck?

[Steveareno]

I thought I would mention a new arrival on the composition book front, one from the New Leaf company (www.newleafproducts.net). It's a regulation composition book advertised as 100% recycled, with 30% post-consumer paper content, processed chlorine-free. The cover is a nice variation on the traditional black-marble pattern, using the veins of a leaf in black and white instead. They are made in Brazil (our favorite country of origin for comp books it seems). The paper is thin, as usual, but very white and smooth. Plus, for those looking for a thinner rule, all the examples I've seen are in college rule. I don't know how well these compare to other Brazilian paper comp books, nor can I attest to how well they handle FP ink. But I love the look of these and coudn't resist adding a couple to my stash.

 

I've seen them at Target and Office Depot. They were $2.99 each at Target.

[rosemaryknits]

I'd like to add to this thread, too.

 

I was recently at Wal-Mart, and picked up a stack of Norcrom (spelling?) notebooks - the kind from Brazil. I noticed that some had quite prominant lines, and others had really faint lines. I much prefer the faint lines, and I was able to pick them out of the stack by simply looking at the side of the stack of notebooks.

 

The lines on my preferred type are very thin and very faint. I really like it this way.

 

Rosemary

[Steveareno]

I've noticed the same thing about the Norcom books. Maybe they have multiple Brazilian manufacturers with some variation in the finished product. I, too, prefer the thinner line. The New Leaf notebooks I mention above have a thin line, at least all in the batch I looked through did.

[maria322]

Heads' up, y'all: This week's Staples flyer features a composition notebook (7.5" x 9.75", wide ruled, 100 sheets, 2/pack) available under their buy 1 get 1 free sale. FYI and you're welcome. :clap1:

[Aristarco]

These beautiful (to me) notebooks by Mead are not sold here in México. Not that card cover, marbled in black and white or color and white, with the giant label-like area to personalize it. However, you can find the Mead composition notebooks in Office Max and Office Depot with plastic covers. Yellow, Orange, Red, Blue, Green and sometimes (though almost never), Black. I don't like those translucent, thick (as thick as the cardboard ones in the classic version), flexible covers. It looks good but I don't like it. I was SO obsessed with a Mead comp notebook that when a friend of mine told me he was going to visit his family in law at Santa Mónica and asked me if I wanted a souvenir, I begged "Please, please bring a Mead Composition Notebook! Nothin else!" He did, but couldn't find it in black, so now I have a navy blue and white one. And it sits unused until I get something really worthy to put on it. I love these notebooks! Too bad they don't use the same cover when exporting to México.

 

Cheers!

Edited April 28, 2009 by Aristarco

[Sailor Kenshin]

Those flexible plastic covers---I found the same problems with them. I liked the colors and the translucency but not the way the notebook behaved with them.

[NotPiffany]

Office Depot has Brazilian composition books. (Well, the one in Lewisville, TX does.) Instead of the usual black and white marbled cover, their covers are pastel colored with writing on them. I think the store called them "retro" for some reason. Unfortunately, they only had the Brazilian paper in wide rule, so I didn't get any myself.

[Octo]

Office Depot has Brazilian composition books. (Well, the one in Lewisville, TX does.) Instead of the usual black and white marbled cover, their covers are pastel colored with writing on them. I think the store called them "retro" for some reason. Unfortunately, they only had the Brazilian paper in wide rule, so I didn't get any myself.

 

 

Check your nearest Office Max. The one near here has Norcom ones (Brazilian paper) in college rule for $2.00 in the clearance section. The covers are a bit flexy and in solid colors.