From a functionality perspective, I love that Endless includes 16 perforated sheets at the back of the book, and if they ever made a version in which all pages were perforated, I’m not sure that I’d use anything else. The most fountain-pen friendly notebook on this list contains 192 pages of 68gsm Tomoe River paper, which not only will handle essentially any fountain pen ink you can throw at it, but has slightly more texture than the lighter-weight 52gsm version. My Five Favorite Hardcover NotebooksĮndless Recorder.

My goal here is to narrow this category down to five solid recommendations for versatile hardcover notebooks that offer a balanced combination of durable construction, quality paper, and a reasonable price point. Today, of course, multiple companies have built on the “Moleskine” concept, and consumers have such a wide array of options that it’s begun to get confusing. While the paper was never the greatest quality, writers, journalers, and office professionals all loved the combination of a relatively durable hardcover, elastic closure, and catch-all envelope that let you carry your thoughts and ideas with you anywhere you went. Today, I plan to start by discussing what I call “bound hardcover notebooks,” sometimes casually referred to as “Moleskine replacements.” There’s a reason that Moleskine notebooks took off in the early 2000s: the brand managed to package a vintage-inspired, nostalgia-driven look into a convenient form factor. For example, the paper in your legal pad or desk pad probably doesn’t need to be as high quality (or expensive) as the paper in a hardcover or spiral notebook where you’ll likely need to write on both sides of the page. You have to break paper recommendations down by format, and I don’t believe there can be a standard, generalized set of recommendations because different formats lend themselves to different use cases and needs. Different Categories of Paper for Different Purposes We spent a solid twenty minutes discussing various paper options at different price points, and ever since I’ve been considering how best to frame my paper recommendations on the blog. This came as a pleasant surprise - while it can be more “fun” to go pen shopping, selecting the right paper and ink often makes the biggest difference in terms of how well a specific combination of tools will work in an everyday writing setup. What surprised me during the Q&A session at the end of the seminar was the extent to which everyone wanted to talk paper. I offered a seminar at last month’s Baltimore Pen Show titled “Everyday Writers: Choosing the Best Tools for Home and Office,” and I had planned to focus on pens and ink.

Best notebooks for work