The Quo Vadis blog has giveaways now and then, and I entered their Bastille Day giveaway last month. ExaClair is the U.S. portion of a group of French companies that make fantastic papers, notebooks, inks... all the little necessaries for the pen-and-ink addicted. Now I just have to think of something worthwhile to put in these little guys. The 1951 book is like a composition book (Sorry LFP, it has floppy covers) and the Habana is a fountain-pen friendly version of that other mole-ish brand of hardcover, pocket-in-the-back notebooks. In my experience, those tend to be heavy on the hype, but light on the paper quality. I've heard nothing but good things about the Habanas, though, and I can't wait to try them out.
7 comments:
I has an envy.
Then my job here is done. *gloats*
I agree with the "heavy-on-the-hype" comment. My experience with the notebooks named for that subterranean critter is that the paper bleeds. Fine for pencil or (shudder) ballpoint, no doubt, but for years I have been happy with the Canson 7 inch by 10 inch sketchbook for my daily journal and occasional drawing.
http://www.amazon.com/Canson-Field-Sketch-Book-10/dp/B000KNJ45E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375769273&sr=8-1&keywords=canson+7+x+10
Yeah, Moleskine can be a little hit-and-miss. It seems like every second page feels a little waxy, causing a fountain pen nib to glide across the page WITHOUT throwing down any ink. I bought a couple of Clairfontaine passport-sized 1951 notebooks, and I also suffer from trying to fill them with something more interesting or permanent than shopping lists, phone numbers, etc.
Nice score, by the way!
Congratulations on the notebooks. I hope you find them satisfactory.
My experience with Moleskine notebooks is expensive and poor quality for use with a fountain pen. I have yet to try some of the other better ones. I tend to be able to fine quite inexpensive ones that are fountain pen friendly.
I think the general issue with the notebooks-who-must-not-be-named is that the quality tends to vary from product to product. It's not like they have one paper that they fit into multiple size books, but rather offer multiple books, possibly made by different companies(?) following a certain spec... and FP-friendly pages are not one of those specs.
They've become ubiquitous, and I see a lot of "novelty" themed ones -- promoting the Hobbit movie, for example, or one with a Lego brick embedded in the cover (disclaimer: I own that one, as a gift.) If you're using a ballpoint, then the paper quality isn't going to matter very much to you. But then, if you're using a BP, why spend so much on a notebook?
The variance isn't just product to product, either. It has been a few years since I last purchased a Moleskine, but I have a few larges and a few smalls, and from one to the next, or even from page to page, you never know what you'll get. Most bleed like crazy, and some pages (as Territz mentions) seem to have a slickery coating on top of all the other issues. There are far better options for the price.
I've wanted to try a Habana for ages, though! Looking forward to hearing how you like it.
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