Hip to be square

June 1, 2009 7:35 AM

Looking for cheap squared paper notebooks, available either online or the UK high street (not Staples or Paperchase, I can't get to these easily and Paperchase sucks up all my money) preferably with tough covers. Moleskines are too small and expensive!

I know they are quite popular as schoolbooks in France - is there anywhere where I can buy single books?

posted by mippy to shopping (8 comments total)

Bonus if they have nice covers - I lose black things easily. I've heard Rhodia are decent quality and cheap but don't know where to get hold of them.
posted by mippy at 7:37 AM on June 1

I've become a big fan of getting things like this handmade through Etsy (link to notebook section). If you don't see exactly what you want, you can go to their Alchemy section and request that someone make it for you. (Of course, becoming addicted to this site may suck all your money away, too.) You can get notebooks made with hardcovers of recycled books, various recycled metal, or other durable but pretty materials.

After you get something handmade, you may be able to see how it's made and then make them yourself, too. (Not that that will necessarily save you money either, at least up front, but you can get exactly what you want that way.)
posted by BlooPen at 8:33 AM on June 1

On looking at Etsy a bit more, maybe something like this one? Shipping to the UK is a few bucks. And if you don't like the cover, you can contact the seller and see what other options they may have available.
posted by BlooPen at 8:37 AM on June 1

Muji.
posted by Dr.Pill at 8:49 AM on June 1

If you google "engineering notebook" you'll get a bunch of results. If you want really tough, Rite in the Rain makes waterproof ones.
posted by electroboy at 8:55 AM on June 1

If you want to go with the French notebooks, you could trying importing from Amazon.fr, e.g. like this. It should be too expensive to ship to the UK.

How to choose the right paper: go for "petits carreaux". If you mistakenly buy a "grands carreaux", you could end up with a French-lined notebook, which is not everyone's cup of tea.

I would go with a Rhodia or a Clairefontaine or even a Oxford notebook. They may be a bit expensive, but it is nothing like Moleskines. You can even see the whole Rhodia collection online, before buying at Amazon and what not. Be sure to read about the ruling/lines. In Rhodia lingo, "petits carreaux" is also called 5x5 (that is, 5 mm by 5 mm squares.)

No affiliation to any of them. I just love notebooks. And I don't even like squared paper.
posted by natalinha at 9:28 AM on June 1

If it helps, I'll be using the paper as a grid to draw into rather than as writing paper. I don't think there's any such thing as a pad of cross-stitch chart paper (ie. in blocks of ten by ten squares together)_
posted by mippy at 10:08 AM on June 1

Oh, I see. I never saw cross-stitch chart paper being sold. One way would be to print your own. Some websites let you set all the dimensions and they generate a pdf for you. I tested this one, it seems to be what you want.

If you want really cheap graph pads, maybe at Office Depot? They have 5 pads of 100 pages for 9,45 €. I couldn't find out if they ship to the UK or not, as the site seems to be very focused on selling to corporations inside France.
posted by natalinha at 10:52 AM on June 1