Vintage Sationery

[Brian Sheridan]

Moleskin tip: look for any Borders calendar stores after Christmas. I picked up multiple sizes of Moleskin notebooks for 50% off at the temporary store we had in our mall.

 

[Shangas]

This site has some very nice close-up shots of an old stationery store. You can click the photos to enlarge them. I wish I knew what all that inventory was.

http://www.ameshistoricalsociety.org/exhibits/tribune/09/wf_0903b.htm

According to the article, they stocked Parker, Esterbrook and Sheaffer (misspelt 'scheaffer') fountain pens. You can see their Parker display in one of the lower photographs. Looks like a lot of Parker '51's and '61's.

 

[Bustercat]

Yes, annoyingly, Moleskine is rather expensive. But it was used by several famous authors, so it had to have been good paper.

I think the general population would've used cheaper notebooks or legal-pads. Probably lined, instead of plain. Just for the convenience.

Thats is just marketing talk. Stationers across Europe, mainly in paris, made those oilcloth books by the armful, and that's what the authors and artists used. "Moleskine" is a modern invention. There was no Moleskine company until the late 90's and the pricing has little historical basis.