VICTORIA’S JOURNAL NOTEBOOKS

Back in February I wrote about the refillable leather Victoria’s Journal.  The same brand has these cahier-style notebooks in packs of two.  Each notebook has 80 pages of cream-colored paper, and has a sewn binding. They’re smaller than A5 size, around 13cm wide by 19cm tall (about 5 1/8 by 7 7/16 inches).

They’re PhP 99 (just over USD 2) per pack of two notebooks, at National Bookstore (their exclusive distributor).  For the life of me I can’t figure out if this is meant to fit into a leather notebook cover, but I would love to know if it does.  There doesn’t seem to be any such matching refillable cover on sale, alas.

The wonderful thing is that it has fountain pen-friendly paper!  (“80 gsm, lined pages, wood-free cream paper”)  Well, for most fountain pens with F or M nibs, that is.  I’m not sure it’s thick enough or sized enough to take on wet B nibs or flex nibs, but for every day use, this passes muster.  Only Herbin Lie de The had the teeniest bit of feathering.  I wouldn’t say totally no bleedthrough, but yes, you can write on both pages and read what you’ve written without irritating marks getting in the way.  Here’s a photo of the ink test page.

Victoria’s Journals brand notebooks are “Designed in Italy, Made in PRC”.  They’re not cheap, but they’re really affordably priced, and stylish.  Would I buy these again?  Seeing as there are very few locally available brands of this price point  (much lower than Clairefontaine and Rhodia) that are fountain pen-friendly, definitely.  I still wish there was a leather cover product to match.   This doesn’t stop me from hunting down other fountain pen-friendly brands, though.  National Bookstore cannot guarantee that certain product lines remain permanently stocked, or that the same quality item can be sourced from their suppliers in the future.  We can always hope.

I am not affiliated with National Bookstore except as a regular customer.  The items being reviewed are my own purchases.

MIDORI TRAVELER’S NOTEBOOK

The Midori Traveler’s Notebook is one of those things you end up coveting when you’re into fountain pens, typewriters and other analog means of organizing your thoughts.  I first saw the standard size version reviewed on Black Cover.  Pictured above is the passport-sized one, in brown.  It’s small and handy enough to fit into any handbag.  I found the larger version to be rather long and narrow for my taste.

It came in its own cheesecloth bag, with some information in Japanese and in English.  There was also an extra elastic strap included, in case you wanted to add some refills to the existing one.

The leather cover is made in Thailand.  It’s the kind of finish that looks better and better the more used and distressed it gets.  The roughly 9cm x 12.5cm refill notebook paper is thin, but fountain pen friendly (if your pen is not an overly wet writer).  The orange refill in the photo is a DIY one I made out of 220gsm cardstock and 100gsm copy paper.

I tested my pens and inks on a back page.  While you can see the writing on the other side, there is absolutely no feathering or bleedthrough of ink.

You can fit two refills on the existing elastic.  To fit more refills/accessories in the Midori Traveler’s Notebook, check out the tips on the Scription blog.

I bought the Midori Traveler’s Notebook from Scribe Writing Essentials (3/F Eastwood Mall, Quezon City).  I believe they are the exclusive distributors of Midori products (including refills and accessories) in the Philippines.  It’s a little pricey, but I think it’s worth it, being real leather and handsome-looking.

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I am not affiliated with Scribe Writing Essentials except as a customer.