First born bought me a Moleskine for Christmas. Best present I ever got!
No, not “moleskin” the pelt:
photographygroup: Fancy a moleskin coat?
No, not mole skin blister protection:
Wikipedia: Moleskin blister protection
No, not moleskin trousers either:
bestinthecountry: Brook Taverner Sherbourne Moleskin Trousers
Will you please STOP?!
Moleskine… with an ‘e’!
Little notebooks have been used by travellers and arty folk like Wilde, Hemingway and Picasso for centuries to record and jot down thoughts, ideas and concepts when they were struck by them. Typically black, the little, handy-to-carry notebook would hold a wealth of ideas (or phone numbers…). The architypal ones were made in Tours, France for over a hundred years, and Bruce Chatwin coined the phrase “moleskine” for them. Born in Yorkshire, he was a novelist and travel writer. When production of his favourite notebook stopped in 1986, he bought up the entire remaining stock! Yorkshire folk are like that.
In 1997, Modo&Modo, a small Milanese publisher created the Moleskine® trademark and brought the little things back into production. In 2007, they renamed the company itself to Moleskine, since this was plainly their future now. Diversifying and producing special editions (there are Star Wars and an up-coming Lego edition), they look set for a rosy (or just traditional black if you prefer) future.
Wikipedia: A rosy moleskine
Mine is a neat little black one, complete with expanding pouch at the back to keep theatre tickets or other reminders, a ribbon placemark so I can remember which list, poem or concept I’m currently working on (typically blogging ideas!), an elastic to keep its covers closed, and beautiful rich creamy lined paper within. The lovely paper screamed for respect and I only use a Parker fountain pen to mark ideas within. I was once moved to record an idea in a rain shower (I live near Vancouver. These things happen), and this inevitably smudged some of the ink. Rather than being annoyed, I thought it added a little romance to the contents. But that’s just me…
Quieter Elephant 
Nothing says romance like a dead mole.
I recently saw the Pac Man special edition. I’m always tempted to buy them, but I treat notebooks badly and I go through them very quickly. From where I’m sitting, I can see six. Five of them are A4 and not empty, and there’s one A5 which has nearly seen its day.
Parker no longer make good fountain pens, not in their I-can-afford-bracket, anyway. They must have changed their nibs and the ink stutters just too often. I’ve tried a few models and even plucked, with pliers, a nib from an old one, otherwise damaged from use (and abuse, q.v.) and put it in the new model sans stuttering nib. I lost it. Then I found, for a quid, the Berol Handwriting pen. It’s cheap, takes generic cartridges, of which you can store a replacement in the tube, and has not stuttered once.
Never seen a dead mole as a ventriloquist’s dummy, but plainly you’ve lived life to the full.
Oh gosh the first picture! ahaha!
Yeah I totally get what you mean when you say the “paper screamed for respect “! I finally bought a moleskine notebook and I have yet to find the proper writing instrument to start writing in it. I am VERY tempted to get the Star Wars one, especially since it comes with a poster.
Continue enjoying your new notebook! 🙂
I will – and thanks for reading! I do feel I’m doing proper homage to the paper when I use an ink pen. Not sure the ideas are any better though…
I love Moleskine books. They’re beautiful, and the fact that the arty folk have used them makes me feel exponentially more creative.
(:
I like that they work for left-handers just as effectively as right-hander… 50% of the time!