Anna Marie asks:
I’m looking for landscape orientation notebooks. I know there’s a landscape orientation Rhodia Webnotebook, but I wouldn’t mind a color that isn’t orange or black. (Sacrilege, I know.) Do any other quality notebook companies make blank landscape orientation options, with binding on the short side? Fountain pen friendly always a bonus!
The sad truth of the matter is that there seems to be an assumption that if you want a horizontal/landscape notebook, you must be an artist and therefore only want a black book. The only company I could find that made landscape notebooks/sketchbooks with any other color cover was Hand Book Artists Journals Travelogue Series. I find the paper a little absorbent for some inks but overall its a thicker stock an good for light washes, and a variety of pen, pencil and media.
If you can live with a black cover though, the Rhodia would be best for fountain pens specifically. For mixed media, I can’t praise Stillman & Birn sketchbooks highly enough. I’ve used the Alpha and the Epsilon notebooks and I like them both. Stillman & Birn offer a landscape format in both softcover (this is new and looks NOT black!) and hardcover. The only Moleskine notebooks I’ve yet to try is the watercolor notebook and many people actually praise it. It’s available in the landscape format with 200 gsm, cold press paper which sounds pretty nice.
, which just happen to be local (Go, Kansas City!) They are available with a linen fabric cover in black, red, blue and green with a soft ivory paper inside.
There is another solution, if you happen to be creative, not afraid of a little effort, and know where to buy paper you really like: learn bookbinding. I haven’t bought a notebook in years, although I fill an inch-thick journal with fountain pen ramblings, every twelve months.
YouTube has lots of how-to videos (where I learned my skills). Or, if it doesn’t seem your cup of tea, maybe you can find a crafty person to make books for you. I know of a particular Etsy shop that can do custom orders, in fact…
Filofax make one: http://www.filofax.co.uk/filofax-notebook-1150-37-a4-no-1.html 73×120 mm in page size.
Yeah, and if black covers are not a dealbreaker, the Maruman Mnemosyne collection has a few landscape options: http://www.jetpens.com/search?q=maruman&v=2
Wow, thanks everyone for all the suggestions! Maybe I can even pick one to go on my holiday list!