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Homage to the composition notebook


JD4020

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I wish they came in college rule.

That's exactly what turned me to Rhodia, Apica and so many other papers. Still a neat stack of comp books sits at the ready in my home office. Despite the vast space between the lines, I use them and enjoy the fleeting rush that I'm starting a new adventure each time I do just as I did in school.

A certified Inkophile

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All this talk of composition books made me dig one out of my desk drawer and start using it. It's a Mead, College ruled made in Vietnam but the paper takes FP ink really well. No show or bleed through to the other side with Quink blue or Skrip blue-black. The things I like best about these notebooks are the rounded corners, the black/white marble covers and the fact that you can fold the cover back. Paper is definitely hit or miss... I got lucky on this one. ($2 at Elephant Pharmacy) YMMV... :0)

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Great thread. I too am a composition book junkie. I've use them through the years for all kinds of writing, journaling and note keeping. I use the "great paper" items and love them, but long before I got into the good stuff, comp books were and have remained a workhorse item for me. A couple of years ago I ran into a great sale at Staples and got quite a few composition books and a large number of quad ruled books that I use a lot. I have used them with all kinds of pens and pencils, and the last year or so with fountain pens. Not the best but not so bad--sometimes.

 

I agree there is a universe of difference in paper they come up with. Fortunately the quad ruled books I got are on the better end of the scale. Due to this thread I dropped by Walmart and got a much needed supply (sigh--not!) of the 50-cent Brazilians (OK--kind of a '60s flashback there). I appreciate JD4020s diligence in identifying paper from there as the better stuff to look for.

 

I've never gotten fancy with the covers for comp books but I have covered them with brown paper-bag paper at times. My interest is piqued over the idea of a leather cover. An old Sheaffer school pen with a fine nib and a composition book with good Brazilian paper--cheapie fine writing heaven!

 

Michael

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I like this. Then you could doodle on the front and smooth out some nibs!

:happycloud9:

 

Cathy L. Carter

 

Live. Love. Write.

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I like this. Then you could doodle on the front and smooth out some nibs!

There you go. Multitasking is good!

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i use this kind of notebook pretty often. in fact i have 2 sitting next to me right now, and aside from my little moleskine these are what i do all my doodling, drawing, writing, and list making/calculations in. they aren't bad overall but:

 

1. the paper is a bit thin and there is bleeding; it is also a bit coarse

2. the lines are a little wide

3. i fold the whole left side around the front, and this stresses the paper cover to the binding stitching. eventually the stitching begins to pull out and it eventually falls apart

 

the kind i have say "distributed by walgreens co." on the front and are Penway brand. is there something like this with slightly better quality that i can move to? or do i need to go to a higher end brand like rhodia? i've been looking for a good replacement to these cheapies but being cheap is part of the reason why i love them!

 

also on an unrelated note, has anybody tried the new XL soft cover moleskine (not cahier)? it looks like a good alternative but it would be quite a bit more expensive and moleskine has a history of sketchy paper quality as we all know (although i do think my little one is pretty good...).

I have a predilection towards preponderously sized nibs and I refuse to prevaricate

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Office Depot has store-brand Brazillian composition notebooks that can be had with college rule. Excellent paper, superbly smooth and bleedthrough-resistant.

 

I have stocked up :happyberet:

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  • 3 weeks later...

I found some Made in Brasil, Staples brand composition books at my local grocery store and picked one up. I like it. I'm able to use both sides of each page with Diamine Prussian Blue and Presidential Blue ink.

 

Bill

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Our local Walmarts have re-stocked and still have a good supply of Made in Brazil composition notebooks at 50-cents among a variety of other back-to-school comp books for 60-cents and more. Also, our area Walgreen's have three-subject Mead comp books from Brazil at the moment, but they are more like $3.29, still a good buy if you want that sort of thing. Alas, I wasn't able to find Brazil college ruled books at our Office Depots. Too bad.

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Just another note. Some of the Walmart Norcom black and white marble composition books for 50-cents are from Vietnam. Seems to be better paper than most other locations but not the quality of Brazilian.

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I went to WalMart and bought a few of these notebooks. They come not only in the traditional black-and-white marbled covers but also in really interesting chess-board patterns and other designs. The covers are so striking, in fact, that I don't want to put a leather cover over them! They are quite a deal for 50 cents apiece (limit 20 per customer). Get them soon, before they're all sold out in the back-to-school rush. Just be sure to look at the back cover and see where they are made. Dig until you find the Brazilians; bypass the Vietnam and Indian-made versions.

Edited by trent
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Picked up one of the Brazil made Wal-Mart comp books the other day. Very nice and just about the perfect size for writing in.

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The BEST composition book is the one from Office Depot with the "made in vietnam" paper. I love that paper for my FP's. It was on sale for .99 each and I bought 24. Try it. Tell me what you think.

"It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is

a far, far better rest that I go to then I have ever known."

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Help me out here, comp book lovers, I just picked up a couple Staple's brand and YUCK! Is there one brand preferred over another? Are you all talking about the Mead in particular?

 

Get the Office Depot Made in Vietnam Paper! Let me know what you think. If you can't find it, I will consider sending you one.

 

"It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is

a far, far better rest that I go to then I have ever known."

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The BEST composition book is the one from Office Depot with the "made in vietnam" paper. I love that paper for my FP's. It was on sale for .99 each and I bought 24. ...

 

So you're really sold on the Vietnam paper? I bout a couple of college-ruled books at Office Depot the other day but haven't tried them. They are now on sale for 30-cents each, so at that price maybe a case would be in order. Six bucks for 20. Have you used Brazilian-made comp books? They are the BEST in my experience.

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FWIW, I was at Wal-Mart and did a one-to-one comparison with comp books with Vietnamese paper and Brazilian paper. I can't say that I could detect much difference in weight, but the Brazilian paper was a much brighter white. Maybe that means it will be somewhat more opaque than the Vietnamese paper? I'd have to say that after that visual comparison, I would probably opt for the Brazilian paper.

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Could any of you please post a photo or a link to those comp books? they sound worth a try, but here in Spain I don't know if we have something similar or where can I order it from.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Here's a cover I've been usingRustico Leather that avoids the middle school student look.

 

I buy ultra cheapies at Walgreens and theyre FP fine. Not luxurious by any stretch but no bleed or showthrough.

 

And here's a pic of one for our Spanish amigo http://a1061.g.akamai.net/7/1061/5412/home/www.walgreens.com/dbimagecache/379863.gif

 

I should add that for those who prefer graph or quadrille paper, a similar book can be found called a lab book.

Edited by 2xhorn
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The composition book seems to be a uniquely American sort of notebook, so I don't think it's readily available in Europe or elsewhere. I have heard that the Mead company will ship overseas. Here is the page for their composition book from their web site:

 

http://www.mead.com/webapp/wcs/stores/serv...1_false_10051##

 

I can't vouch for the provenance of the paper in these Mead comp books. It probably varies.

 

Here's the page on composition books from Norcom, the paper in which seems to vary between Vietnamese and Brazilian. According to the web site, online ordering directly from Norcom is "coming soon," but I don't know if they will ship internationally.

 

http://www.norcominc.com/productsdetail06.asp?search=76010

Edited by Steveareno
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This is such a great thread. I love composition books!

 

Just to add my two cents to the pot, I picked up five of the Office Depot brand comp books today for $0.30ea, but they were strictly limiting to five per customer. Sweet talking skills didn't work... I got the last four Brazil college ruled books, which must have been old stock. Everything else was from Vietnam. I noticed a wide variety in the Vietnam books--some feathered horrible and others behaved themselves. I have to agree that the Brazil paper is much brighter and, to my mind, smoother than the rest. It seems like this is the case across many different brands of composition books. All of the new stock of comp books (plenty of unopened cases) were from Vietnam, so scoop up those Brazils if you see them.

 

I tried a quick dip in the Office Depot brand quad ruled books (blue marbled cover, made in India), but they were horrible and feathered terribly--but not as bad as a Moleskine... :headsmack:

 

On to Staples, where they have quad ruled composition books on sale for $0.99ea (regular $2.49), with no apparent limit. I snapped up five of these. The gridlines are much lighter than the Norcom quad ruled. All of the books I bought take ink very well and show off nice shading variation. These books have lime green and white stripes on the covers and are made in Taiwan.

 

I used Norcom quad rule for lecture notes, but I found the gridlines to be much too dark for my writing, which is with an extra-fine nib and Waterman Blue-Black ink. Scans and photocopies of notes were almost unreadable because the gridline and the written word were nearly the same weight. I'm sure the paper would do well for dark and black ink, as it had no feathering and little bleed-through. The two Norcom books I used are made in Indonesia.

 

My favorites are 1) Office Depot brand college ruled, made in Brazil; and 2) Staples brand quad ruled books, made in Taiwan.

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