I finally purchased a Rhodia Heritage Book Block in the Checkered cover with grid paper ($16.95). It is a composition sized notebook (7.5×9.75″) with 80 sheets. The Book Block is particularly appealing for the exposed stitching and the Rhodia/Clairefontaine 90gsm paper.
Besides the stitching, the Heritage editions include a table of contents, numbered pages and a space at the top of each page for title or page description.
I particularly like that the Heritage editions use orange ink for the lines and grid instead of purple or dark grey. I find it far less obtrusive. The lines for the table of contents are far too widely spaced compared to the gird spacing though. It feels practically juvenile.
Writing samples show that the famous 90gsm paper performs as expected. It is ivory color rather than a bright white so ink colors might shift slightly but it will be a bit easier on the eyes for longer writing which this composition-sized notebook lends itself to.
From the back, there is no bleed through and very little show through in the writing sample. There is a reason why Rhodia papers are fountain pen users’ favorites.
The Heritage Collection will be a favorite too. It doesn’t feel as precious or pricey as a webnotebook or Habana and is a little bit larger in size so it may be a notebook to consider. The softcover might also make it more appealing for some.
I purchased my Rhodia Heritage Book Block from The Pen Place in Kansas City but it is available at many of your favorite online shops as well as is the smaller sewn spine edition (MSRP $10) with 32 sheets in each book.
Love The Pen Place. Bought some of my earliest pens there when business took me to the area every year.
That looks great.
Really a nice notebook. I bought a couple of the 32 page ones. If it were in A5, I’d buy a pile of them.
It does exist in A5; I found them in France, so presumably if these do well they’ll bring them here.
Great review! I am absolutely in love with the Rhodia heritage line. The soft, creaminess of the pages and the orange end papers, and orange lines. I can’t go back to other notebooks now. So, I have bought up as many of the block sewn notebooks as I could find. But they are no longer making them. Does anyone know when they might resume production?