Moleskines

What is Moleskine®?

Moleskine® (mol-a-skeen’-a) is a popular brand of notebook manufactured by Italian company Moleskine Srl. Moleskine® carries a line of notebooks, journals, and city guides, among others. The typical Moleskine® notebook cover is made of a vinyl (PVC) material cardboard, while Cahier journals are bound with cardboard covers. Moleskine® is widely known for the following features:

* A cloth ribbon bookmark attached permanently

* A sewn spine that allows the notebook to remain flat when opened

* An expandable inner pocket on the inside of the back cover, handy for holding small items

* Silky, acid-free pages

* A small pamphlet of the Moleskine® history inside the notebook

For more information, go to Moleskine.com.

How did the moleskin notebook become so popular?

Originally manufactured by small French bookbinders, moleskin notebooks were distributed to stationery shops in Paris constantly visited by many avant-garde and forward-thinking personalities of the period.

Famed English travel writer Bruce Chatwin was one of these radical minds. He reportedly used to frequent a stationery shop in Rue de l’Ancienne Comédie to buy moleskin notebooks in bulk. In 1986, he was informed by a shop owner that she could no longer provide new moleskins because her supplier, the owner of a family business in Tours — the only moleskin notebook manufacturer left — had passed away. Her words: “Le vrai moleskin n’est plus.” (Translation: The real moleskin does no longer exist.)

Chatwin, who died of cancer at the age of 48, was known for his extensive use of moleskin notebooks, which he wrote about in his 1997 book, The Songlines. In the 90s bestseller, the novelist, who was also an art and architecture advisor, wrote that moleskin was the name of the cover originally made of black moleskin. His reference led to the French dubbing the little black notebook “carnet moleskin.”

In 1998, the moleskin notebook was brought back to the mainstream through Italian company Modo & Modo, which took on the Moleskine® brand. The company declares that the design of the Moleskine® closely matches the one Chatwin continually kept during his travels and had been so consistently fond of.

Today, with the moleskin notebook’s lasting minimalistic and straightforward attributes, it is being regarded as the symbol of the modern-day nomad and is set to continue being the treasured companion of the avant-garde of today and of the future generations.

Who were the early users of the moleskin notebook?

According to MoleskineUS, some of the most famous names in the creative field have used moleskin journals: French painter Henry Matisse, Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh, writer Ernest Hemingway, poet and essayist (among others) André Breton, and Spanish painter Pablo Picasso.

Moleskiners

Who is this website for?

We have realized that when it comes to moleskins (and in particular, Moleskine®-brand notebooks), people are absolutely polarized on the matter: there are the skeptics who never used it and dismiss those who do as elitist snobs who fork over an arm and a leg to buy an overpriced notebook. Then there is the inspired bunch who actually use them. We of the latter group sing its praises, leaving those who diss it at their own ignorance.

Our medium is the notebook, but what we are ultimately about is the community that we belong to, about the people and being with friends. This is our place, and our home. So let’s connect and have fun!

If you have questions, please email admin@moleskiners.com.