I appreciate your detailed review because I have one of these and haven’t yet used it. It is really beautiful and I’m reluctant to mess it up with writing!
Truth be told, this is an exquisite piece of art and superb craftsmanship. It exudes an old world charm and beauty. Arguably, even worth the price to buy it. The paper looks plenty nice. Alas, the fact that it doesn’t lie flat just breaks my heart. It means I’d never buy it, even if ithe notebook was much cheaper. The flat lay is mandatory for me with any notebook. It’s the reason why I’ve given up on many notebooks, even when the paper is high quality and the design, appearance etc are on point. You continue to showcase such beautiful, desirable things on your channel, Blake. I cannot thank you enough for that! That red Aurora Ipsilon is a cutie. Does it have the 14k nib? 1.2 mm italic?
I’m quite familiar with Bottega Obscura, they are gorgeous and made by a true artisan. I just can’t justify the price for my use. Great review Blake, thanks !!!
I'm glad to see you get around to reviewing this one. Thanes (or Phanes, pronounced "fay knees") is from Orphic cosmogony, which isn't at all like Hesiod's cosmogony. It seems a lot more Asiatic than classically Greek. Thanes hatches from a silver egg created by Chronos. He's sometimes associated with Dionysus. I have a big fat book on Greek cosmogony, given to me by a colleague in classics shortly before she died. The section dealing with Orphic cosmogony is ... confusing. $500 isn't that expensive when you put it in perspective. I've bought a couple hundred dollars worth of notebooks from you; three more orders, and I'm there. But your notebooks have the virtue of being effortless to write in (they don't fight back!), and I get a lot more pages for the money. I love beautiful objects, but if they aren't intended to just sit there and look pretty, I need them to be beautifully functional. I'm sad that that notebook is a big "nope" for me. I really wanted one. Were Niccolo faster to make them, I'd have bought one a year or two ago, when I first heard about them. But not after your comment some months ago when you mentioned that yours was a challenge to write in. If I'd bought one, my relationship with it wouldn't be happy. I'd like to buy a book bound by him (I don't need my books to lay flat, as long as there are no words concealed at the edge of the page toward the spine), but he rarely has anything available for sale on his website. All I've ever seen are books by Tolkien. There are books I'd happily pay hundreds of dollars for in a fine, leather binding, but "The Hobbit" isn't one of them. Unless he takes commissions, the odds are probably zero that I'll ever see a copy of "Мастер и Маргарита" there. I'll have to ask him.
Thanks for the comment James! I appreciate the pronunciation. I just look at it as an objet d'art rather than a journal. I wouldn't buy another though, even if it is beautiful. I've read The Master and Margarita a couple times now. It's great, I am sure in Russian it is even better. If you wanted one with a beautiful binding like this you should ask him. I know I have seen a Folio Society binding (not that they compare to this book).
Spectacular notebook. Back in my college days in Venice shops sold very similar items and I did get some of their smaller (chaeper) offers. At this price, however, I would require lined pages at the very least although I can live with the non-flat performance.
Thanks for sharing another video, Blake!
Cheers from Brazil!
Amazing piece of craftmanship, and great video.
I appreciate your detailed review because I have one of these and haven’t yet used it. It is really beautiful and I’m reluctant to mess it up with writing!
Truth be told, this is an exquisite piece of art and superb craftsmanship. It exudes an old world charm and beauty. Arguably, even worth the price to buy it. The paper looks plenty nice.
Alas, the fact that it doesn’t lie flat just breaks my heart. It means I’d never buy it, even if ithe notebook was much cheaper. The flat lay is mandatory for me with any notebook. It’s the reason why I’ve given up on many notebooks, even when the paper is high quality and the design, appearance etc are on point.
You continue to showcase such beautiful, desirable things on your channel, Blake. I cannot thank you enough for that!
That red Aurora Ipsilon is a cutie. Does it have the 14k nib? 1.2 mm italic?
What a lovely thing! Thank you!
I’m quite familiar with Bottega Obscura, they are gorgeous and made by a true artisan. I just can’t justify the price for my use. Great review Blake, thanks !!!
Hi Gino, I can justify it either lol. Lesson learned.
I'm glad to see you get around to reviewing this one.
Thanes (or Phanes, pronounced "fay knees") is from Orphic cosmogony, which isn't at all like Hesiod's cosmogony. It seems a lot more Asiatic than classically Greek. Thanes hatches from a silver egg created by Chronos. He's sometimes associated with Dionysus. I have a big fat book on Greek cosmogony, given to me by a colleague in classics shortly before she died. The section dealing with Orphic cosmogony is ... confusing.
$500 isn't that expensive when you put it in perspective. I've bought a couple hundred dollars worth of notebooks from you; three more orders, and I'm there. But your notebooks have the virtue of being effortless to write in (they don't fight back!), and I get a lot more pages for the money. I love beautiful objects, but if they aren't intended to just sit there and look pretty, I need them to be beautifully functional. I'm sad that that notebook is a big "nope" for me. I really wanted one. Were Niccolo faster to make them, I'd have bought one a year or two ago, when I first heard about them. But not after your comment some months ago when you mentioned that yours was a challenge to write in. If I'd bought one, my relationship with it wouldn't be happy.
I'd like to buy a book bound by him (I don't need my books to lay flat, as long as there are no words concealed at the edge of the page toward the spine), but he rarely has anything available for sale on his website. All I've ever seen are books by Tolkien. There are books I'd happily pay hundreds of dollars for in a fine, leather binding, but "The Hobbit" isn't one of them. Unless he takes commissions, the odds are probably zero that I'll ever see a copy of "Мастер и Маргарита" there. I'll have to ask him.
Thanks for the comment James! I appreciate the pronunciation. I just look at it as an objet d'art rather than a journal. I wouldn't buy another though, even if it is beautiful. I've read The Master and Margarita a couple times now. It's great, I am sure in Russian it is even better. If you wanted one with a beautiful binding like this you should ask him. I know I have seen a Folio Society binding (not that they compare to this book).
Thank you for reviewing the book. Such good craftsmanship.
I also really liked the leather cover of your PaperMind notebook. What cover is that?
Spectacular notebook. Back in my college days in Venice shops sold very similar items and I did get some of their smaller (chaeper) offers. At this price, however, I would require lined pages at the very least although I can live with the non-flat performance.
Yea, I forgot to mention about the lined pages. It remains my main preference in any notebook. Blank is a second choice.
It’s a beautiful notebook but I couldn’t cope with it not laying flat.