Care and Feeding

From BBCi:

"Tips for Using the Moleskine Notebook

      Although the book will fit in a back trouser pocket, if you're going to carry it on your person, it's less damaging to the book to put it in your jacket pocket. (Although the book is light, placing it in a shirt pocket is not recommended.)

      Always use the elastic to keep the pages closed. The pages may be acid-free, but they are not waterproof. Keeping the book closed tightly with the elastic will limit any rain damage to the page edges.

      The ideal writing instrument for the standard size notebook will have a fine point (ie a maximum of 0.7mm). Either pen or pencil will work nicely.
 
      If you're using the notebook as a creative writing aid, Bruce Chatwin recommended numbering each page for use as a reference guide.
 
      Chatwin also suggested placing your mailing address in the inside cover, along with notice of a reward for recovery in the event the book gets lost. (The Modo and Modo version provides a space in the inside front cover for this information.)"
...
Burning sands, reticulated pythons, coffee grounds and crayons often take their toll on our little black books. What to do? Martha is busy taking notes from her courtroom seat so let's take the cudgels.

- I keep mine in Ziploc® when traveling.

[BBCi excerpt added 3.4.04]

Update 5.12.06

Alexia has a photoset on FLICKR about Moleskine repair.

Comments

[Simon Moores]

As a writer, I go through a Moleskine every three months or less. It's my 'Little Black Book' of notes in a digital world and I'm lost without one.

One immediate benefit is that the batteries never need charging!

[Lohr]

I protect mine in Ziplocs there in my briefcase...

[Liz]

I take mine to the spa! But seriously, I use my Moleskine as a diary and do take care of it. I guess its just good sense to make these things last.

[Edelmak]

I periodically clean the cover of my Moleskine notebooks with Armorall (sic?) wipes for leather. These wipes work great as they both clean and protect the material.

[Lohr]

The Armor-All idea is excellent... My one obsessive concern, though, is protecting the little orange wrapper... And--all my Moleskines have orange wrappers. Does that mean something in particular? What do pink, red, blue, signify?

[Witold Riedel]

The different colors of the wrappers stand for the different kinds of paper in the Moleskines. All your books probably have the same wrapper, because they are all of the same kind of paper... : D
yey

[Lohr]

Now *that* is interesting... But what kind of paper corresponds to each wrapper color?

[Witold Riedel]

hmm... I remove the wrappers and tend to replace them with varieties of tape... : )

[Edelmak]

Help me out... why would you put tape on your Moleskine after removing the wrapper band? What purpose does that serve?

[Delanie]

Avid journaler for 20+ years and only found these wonderful notebooks four years ago when I moved from the States to Scotland. I have now filled 15 of them of sketches, photographs, and other tidbits. I think I would be a lost soul instead of Lost in Scotland (sorry thats what I'm calling these series of notebooks)...

I just recently started a search on Moleskine online to see what others are doing. Thanks for a great blog. I'll post a pic of some later...
Del

[Michael Wamsley]

The colors of the wrappers are indeed an indication of the type of paper. Red is for address books, yellow is for Japanese pocket albums and blue is for sketch books. I don't what the accordian files look like.

M

[Dan Moniz]

One of my Moleskines, a daily memo book filled with random ephemera and more, has developed a small yet severe tear in the spine, at the top corner of the front, where the spine meets the front cover. The other remaining corners of the spine are showing signs of wear, where the black paper material has come away and is starting to show white underneath, smaller tears also on their way. Has anyone found a way to retard this, or at least to keep the notebook from falling apart?

[Armand]

These instructions from the UIUC may help.

[Dan]

Nice, that works out really well, lol. They know their notebook repairs.
...
Don't know if this is the right place to post this, but anyhow...

Has anyone figured a good way to attach a pen to the moleskine notebook? Making some sort of cloth loop seems ideal, but I don't think glueing it on would work out. Perhaps a velcro strip... but that wouldn't hold the pen as well... Give a response with your thoughts...

[FIREChickNY]

here's a question for you all... what kind of messages do you put in the reward section of your moleskines? My feeling is that one doesn't know the value of their notebook until it has both been given content and then subsequently lost. Anybody have any ideas or suggestions...???

[Il Postino]

Hi FIREChickNY:)
You may want to check this previous post.

[Alex Coxe]

I wish I had taken better care of my sleeve. Mine is blue. It's gotten a few wrinkles/creases in it since I had left it on my desk, but I really like it. It just looks good, lol. I also love the saying on it.
"The Large sketch-book
that evolved
from a legendary
pocket-sized notebook."
If you can't already tell, I have a large sketchbook Moleskine, ^_^.

-Alex

[terromur]

You all *really* keep the sleeves on your books? How do they stay on? That's like keeping the tag on your jeans that broadcasts your size to the world. Not the leather branded patch you slip your belt through, but the paper tag. I keep mine pristine (although I honestly don't know why), with the info pamphlet, in the pocket at the back.

[Pragmatik]

I don't keep the sleeves on mine. They just get in my way when I try to write or put it in my pocket.

But I guess it wouldn't be such a bother with the larger ones and would actually help identify them from other types of Moleskines (I'm always grabbing the blank book when I want the planner/diary and vice versa).

To each his or her own.

[Alex Coxe]

I have my 2nd M now and whenever I'm not using it I keep the beautiful orange sleeve on. I have 2 large M's so to tell 1 from the other, it's nice to have the sleeve.

[nina]

i just found out about moleskines today and am in quite a rush to get one.. online ordering takes two days, which i can manage, but i am wondering if there are any stores in which i can purchase one? perhaps an art store, or something.. i live in the san francisco bay area, so it probably isn't that hard of an item to find, but wow, that notebook knocked me off my feet... i have a hobby of writing and plan on doing it for a career, so i'm quite particular about my pens and notebooks, and am sick of tearing bits of paper off of my assignments..

[Billy]

So glad I'm not alone in my obsession. I can't wait to get my Moleskine's filled as I love the look of a slightly used, dog-eared Mlskn, as opposed to a pristine one.
By the way, has anyone purchased the new Volant version. I love the soft back idea but why is this alternative version so bloody thin???

[Hans Moleman]

I love the elastic band feature, and sometimes, when I'm alone, I like to use the elastic band to....oh, i'll just say it...to keep my current page easily accessible instead of using the ribbon bookmark provided!

Gosh I feel better for having got that off my chest. Has anyone else tried that....or is it just me....

[barney gumball]

glad you brought that up, hand, because i unfortunately broke my elastic feature when my brother tried to read my diary!

when i saw him reading it, i just snatched, and then by motor function, i just ripped the elastic feature out and flicked it at him! im so embarrassed!

x x x

[Hans Moleman]

There, there Barney! There's no need to be embarrased- it's happened to us all (hasn't it guys). Now, I have an ideal, if somewhat temporary solution to your problem. Just take an elastic band, or if you'd like the luxury of a cotton coating, perhaps you'd prefer to use a ladies hair bobble (which come in a variety of colours and thicknesses- just pop to your local chemist to see the array)to wrap around the edge of your Moleskine. Thus you can keep your personal etchings private once more, until you purchase a new, even better, Moleskine.

I hope this has made you feel better Barney.