Homage to the composition notebook

[Heirphoto]

I happened to stumble on Roaring Springs Wide Ruled composition books this weekend at Gordonville Bookstore near Lancaster Pa......an Amish religious bookstore. I think they were $1.29 each.

 

 

Tony

[Pink Ink]

Oooh, how did I miss this thread? Last month, I stocked up on a few marbled ones at Target. At fifty-cents each, I got almost a dozen books -- clearing the store of its pink and purple ones. I have this black one right now that i can't wait to use up so that I can start digging into my loot.

 

I know they're cheap but I don't care. I find that a fine point pen works just fine with very little if any bleed-through. I can use the disposable FPs too but I have to write fast enough as these pens are fairly wet.

 

The black marbled cover: Ugh. There is no need. If you shop around, every now and then Target sells them in funky designs (but not at fifty cents, more like $2.50 to $3.00). I saw a few with bright circles on the cover. Another one had a brown wood print with a white tree. The Office Depot near me had some with solid pink covers. If worse comes to worst, use gift-wrapping paper or grocery store bag paper or even shopping bag plastic to cover it up. :-)

[Sailor Kenshin]

Oooh, how did I miss this thread? Last month, I stocked up on a few marbled ones at Target. At fifty-cents each, I got almost a dozen books -- clearing the store of its pink and purple ones. I have this black one right now that i can't wait to use up so that I can start digging into my loot.

 

I know they're cheap but I don't care. I find that a fine point pen works just fine with very little if any bleed-through. I can use the disposable FPs too but I have to write fast enough as these pens are fairly wet.

 

The black marbled cover: Ugh. There is no need. If you shop around, every now and then Target sells them in funky designs (but not at fifty cents, more like $2.50 to $3.00). I saw a few with bright circles on the cover. Another one had a brown wood print with a white tree. The Office Depot near me had some with solid pink covers. If worse comes to worst, use gift-wrapping paper or grocery store bag paper or even shopping bag plastic to cover it up. :-)

 

 

Why does everyone ELSE find these on sale?

 

[Poetman]

Am I right in thinking that fountain pen ink is not the strongest or darkest? I can't understand why my pilot rollerball (precise v.7) bleeds through my composition book worse than my medium Waterman phileas with Noodler's ink.

[Pink Ink]

 

Why does everyone ELSE find these on sale?

 

I dunno about everyone else but I wait until August when all the back-to-school sales are going on.

 

If a school supply doesn't usually come out in a funky color, it might in August but August only. Took me a few Augusts but, I finally scored a pink graphing calculator this year. This year instead of waiting till after they sold out, I decided to jump on one. The point of this is that if you're also looking for comp books in something other than marbled black, August is your time. All the comp books at Target are now black only.

[Poetman]

For those of you whose have notebooks that are at least a few years old, how does the paper last? I read a review where someone complained that composition notebook paper gets brittle and yellow. Have any of you had such an experience?

[Stani]

I can only agree that for the money these are the best. I've been buying them for twenty years and they still the great little book they where when I started using them.

 

 

.....Stani

[Steveareno]

For those of you whose have notebooks that are at least a few years old, how does the paper last? I read a review where someone complained that composition notebook paper gets brittle and yellow. Have any of you had such an experience?

 

I have one that is 37 years old and has been stored in less than optimum conditions at many points in its existence, and it has held up remarkably well. There is a little yellowing of the paper and fading of the old ballpoint ink I used as a teenager, but still in good shape overall.

 

The paper in this old comp book seems a lttle more substantial than the paper in more recently manufactured ones. Since the paper is probably some sort of wood pulp, my guess is that there is a high acid content, or ph level, or whatever it is that makes paper deteriorate. So they certainly won't last as long as journals or notebooks with higher quality, acid free paper. Whether a new composition book will start to get yellow and brittle in just a few years or whether it takes decades, I can't say.

Edited September 30, 2008 by Steveareno

[Sailor Kenshin]

It's not August any more. PHAIL.

[cfclark]

I ran across a stack of these in the supply closet at my office, and, um, appropriated one. Ours are 'National' brand, made in Brazil. True to others' experience, the paper is quite nice and overall seems to perform better than the paper in my Moleskine. Not sure where these came from, my assumption is an office supply wholesaler, maybe Corporate Express? I'll do some investigating.

 

 

[Pink Ink]

It's not August any more. PHAIL.

August 2009 hasn't happened yet.

[Sailor Kenshin]

I ran across a stack of these in the supply closet at my office, and, um, appropriated one. Ours are 'National' brand, made in Brazil. True to others' experience, the paper is quite nice and overall seems to perform better than the paper in my Moleskine. Not sure where these came from, my assumption is an office supply wholesaler, maybe Corporate Express? I'll do some investigating.

 

I have one or two of those, and they are indeed made in Brazil. I've also got ones that just read The Original Marble Cover (made in Roaring Springs, PA), Pen-Tab (made in Brazil), American Scholar (made in India), and a REALLY old 'National' that was made in the USA. The Staples comp book that I just bought this year is made in 'Nam.

 

I think the Brazilian paper's pretty decent, haven't tested the others yet.

[RevAaron]

I haven't mentioned in this thread but may have elsewhere... but if you're looking for a pocket notebook I definately recommend the pocket comp notebooks they have at WalMart. I'm one of those don't-shop-at-walmart folks, but this little notebook is great, and I've found found anything nearly as nice at any meatspace store around here. With some elastic from Michael's, and some duct tape, I added a Moleskineish band to keep it shut.

 

The best thing about these little pocket comps is that they're sewn, just like their big sisters. Most of the pocket comp-looking notebooks I've come across at Target, OfficeMax and elsewhere all use a really crappy glue binding that failed after a couple of weeks of being carried in a manpurse- prolly last a few days in a pocket or at the bottom of a backpack. If you turn the page, the sheet falls out.

 

At the WalMart around here, they're 77 cents US. 80 sheets/160 pages and college ruled. The paper is quite a bit nicer than the paper in the regular-sized composition books I've used, both no-name ones and the ones made by Mead, nicer than Ampad Evidence or Gold Fibre. 4.5x3.25, same width as my pocket Moleskine, but shorter. They fit in pockets easier, the cover is flexible cardboard but the one I've been carrying for a few months is still intact. And, unlike my Moleskine, they actually lay flat.

 

On the back it says something like "Made for Walmart Stores Inc." Made in China. THe last half of the barcode is 080359, but the first half is covered by the duct tape. I've been using these more and more, largely because of my ingrown Minnesotan fear of actually using anything too nice- because of the higher cost, I tend to only put real information into the Moleskine, but I doodle and play a ton in the cheapos.

 

The Moleskine is the hard drive, and the Walmart pocket comps are the RAM? Something like that.

 

Aaron

[Steveareno]

I picked up a couple of those cheapo Wal-Mart mini-comp books a while back and have also found them to be solidly made. The only caveat I would express is that there seems to be some wide variance in the paper that gets used. They had a couple of dozen on the rack at the store and pulling out several at random, I found some with quite nice paper and some that was like glossy newsprint or something. So I would recommend looking inside before you buy.

[RevAaron]

Thanks for the warning!

[jantirak]

OOOO....I LOVE those little comp books. I have a few of them including one that's been traveling around with me for at least two years and it's still perfect! The binding really holds up well and the paper in mine is nice too.

 

After reading this post, I went and checked the backs of a bunch of comp notebooks I bought a few months ago at walmart during their back to school sale for a quarter each and sure enough they are that same made in brazil ones as talked about here! I am so excited to have lucked out and at 4 for a dollar, what a deal!

[escribo]

I believe someone mentioned that the Mexico-made ones are (Potty Mouth), and I can confirm this.

I bought one today knowing full well it probably wasn't any good, but it was what they had,

and hey, it was a buck. Norcom, I believe the brand was. I can still use it with a pencil,

but I won't go near it with anything wetter. Ink bleeds through the back side of the page

onto the next page.

Pure-dee ca-rap.

 

Today's consolation is that I also acquired a Black N' Red, A5 size, spiral, polypropylene

covers. Nice 24 lb paper -- does not bleed or bleed through. Only thing is, it seems a bit

water resistant; my ink took quite a while to dry on it.

-jon

 

EDIT: Potty Mouth?? BWAAHAAHA

Edited October 2, 2008 by escribo

[Sailor Kenshin]

OOOO....I LOVE those little comp books. I have a few of them including one that's been traveling around with me for at least two years and it's still perfect! The binding really holds up well and the paper in mine is nice too.

 

After reading this post, I went and checked the backs of a bunch of comp notebooks I bought a few months ago at walmart during their back to school sale for a quarter each and sure enough they are that same made in brazil ones as talked about here! I am so excited to have lucked out and at 4 for a dollar, what a deal!

 

A QUARTER?

 

You people are killing me.

[Steveareno]

OK, the question about how long the paper in a standard composition book will last got me to looking around, and I found this interesting article about paper deterioration from the Library of Congress:

 

http://www.loc.gov/preserv/deterioratebrochure.html

 

Since, as I said above, I'm assuming that the paper in composition books is made from wood pulp, it will not have a very long life. But "long" is a relative term. If you expect your composition books to be around in 100 years for some descendant or archivist to read, you should probably find another sort of notebook/journal. If 50 years is acceptable, then your jottings will probably still be available, though they will have shown some real deterioration by then.

 

Another article I ran across said that it is practically impossible to predict how long a given piece of paper will last. There are so many variables -- ranging from its manufacture to its use and storage -- that affect its duration. I think composition books have a certain fundamental charm, and their impermanence may be part of that. They certainly are not an archival medium for storing one's writings.

[Tricia]

I have one here that has a first date of 1992 - still looks great, but there's a little yellowing of the paper edges, though nothing dramatic.

 

It's a blank paper (no rules) one made by Vernon McMillan (A Boorum & Pease Co.) and it says "Made in U.S.A." And, for my convenience, there's also a Metric chart in the back with U.S. Equivalents. Ever hopeful, eh?