Unquestionably the coolest notebook I've ever seen

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.

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.

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.

Unquestionably the coolest notebook I've ever seen