Sunday, November 22, 2009

A Favorite Notebook

Easy to find examples of a dozen or more different notebooks, journals, sketchbooks and notepads in blogs related to paper, pen and ink, but in all those pages I’ve yet to see something showing and describing a personal favorite in the notebook-journal-sketchbook family. Maybe not easy to find outside of Japan, and even here, many stores do not carry the Life Noble Note series, a made in Japan high quality line of notebooks. The notebooks come in three sizes: A4 (8.26 x 11.69 in), B5 (6.93 x 9.85) and A5 (5.83 x 8.26), sizes common to Japan. Notebooks have 100 pages, with either blank, ruled or graphed pages. The paper is excellent and almost always allows pen or pencil to glide smoothly across the surface. I have found that different inks tend to react differently, and while many inks neither feather nor bleed through, it does happen with particular inks. I haven’t kept a detailed record of which among my 60 different inks react poorly with the Noble Note paper, so am unable to offer a list of inks to watch out for. And of course, there will be differences depending upon the fountain pen and the type of nib. Most of my pens have a medium nib, and write beautifully in these notebooks. The Life series is available online, though I cannot say positively that delivery outside of Japan is possible. The website is ninety percent Japanese, but someone might want to take a look at Rakuten.


Bad to say, but there is a downside to ordering from this website. Experience has taught me that even an inquiry will almost assure that regular and bothersome email will follow, the kind few of us like to get.


Perhaps the three images will give a fuller description of these great Life Note Note journals and notebooks.



Hopefully, you will find them available outside of Japan.





1 comment:

  1. Hi and welcome to the neighborhood. I've never heard of this brand of notebook, but will take a look around NYC for it. I love the thought that life can be a series of noble notes. :)

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Oak Hill, Florida, United States
A longtime expat relearning the footwork of life in America