A technophile lawyer rediscovers the joys of pen and paper

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Unquestionably the coolest notebook I've ever seen

Cool Indian Notebook - Close-Up
Close-up: top right of cover
Granted, I've only got about 18 months of the notebook bug under my belt, so I've seen a lot fewer notebooks in my time than Nifty has. But I find the coolness factor of this notebook is off the charts.

I bought it at Flax in L.A. last month. Joan, the proprietor at Flax, said once the salesman showed then to her she bought all they had —and she only had 5 left when I bought this one.

The notebook is from India and appears handmade. Joan didn't know what language that is on the cover, and I don't, either. Hindi? Punjabi? Bengali?

Let's start with the cover: part leather, part canvas, with a rough-hewn interface between the two and around the edges.
Cool Indian Notebook - Front and Back
Front and back views
The pages are heavily textured, and likewise finished roughly around the edges, and it has a very narrow leather bookmark. It seems like this notebook should be used only for important things. Forget about daily to-do lists. That just wouldn't seem right.

Cool Indian Notebook - Edge Views


Everything about this notebook — the rough edges of the paper, it's texture, the materials (the cover is part leather and part canvas, the bookmark is leather), the stamp and writing on the cover — screams "Old World." Sitting down with it, I feel like a British Lieutenant leading an expedition or manning a remote outpost in colonial India or South Africa, keeping my log in this notebook, writing in the heat as I sweat under my heavy red tunic.

But, that's just me.

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5 comments:

  1. Wow, I can't tell you how much I love this! Wish I could find one like it!
    How does it write? Fantastic!!

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  2. Rori,

    I'm afraid this will only make it worse for you: it takes fountain pen ink beautifully.

    Try calling Joan at Flax Pen to Paper. You never know, she might have one left, or maybe the vendor brought by some more.

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  3. What a great looking notebook. Such a plus that it takes the fountain pen ink well, so many times they look great on the outside and just can't handle the ink.

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  4. Hey! I really think the writing on the notebook is Punjabi...
    My Mom speaks it.

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  5. hi,thanks for sharing!also btw the writing is devangari and urdu

    ReplyDelete