Thinking on paper

A few weeks ago I posted a piece on the history of paper. As a regular user of notebooks it prompted me to wonder about the obscure history of the notebook form of bundling blank paper.

Who doesn’t like a good notebook? Many remember “composition books” from elementary school days. That was my introduction to the notebook.

As a historian in search of documentary evidence, I often visit archives where finding a subject-person’s notebook is like discovering gold — and they are not always fancy: the notebook I discovered pictured above was used by a bishop in 1942 to record the scene of his mother’s death, and his own last will and testament!

Go to Amazon and search “notebook.” The options are endless — from shirt-pocket to desk-size, lined and unlined, leather-covered or card-stock. Whether simple tablets like the bishop’s or leather-clad — all are designed with one purpose in mind: thinking on paper.

Which brings me to the point of this post …

Having wondered about the history of notebooks, I was delighted to discover that someone has already done the research — and a book is forthcoming: The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper by Roland Allen.

It is slated for publication September 10.

Make a note of it.