Limited edition A5 notebook

by Amanda Fleet

Stu and I were talking about spiral-bound notebooks and we're both the same. Innately, we think we don't like spiral-bound, but then we get a spiral-bound notebook and love it. No, I don't know what that's all about either.

So which spiral-bound notebook am I wittering about today? A limited edition Calepino made specially for Nero's Notes, that's what!

Stu did a deal with Calepino to produce a limited number of boxed, spiral-bound, dot-grid notebooks, but you need to get your skates on to get one, because at the time of writing, there were only three in stock and when they're gone, they're gone...

And my, it is a thing of beauty!

The cover is a blue thick card with Nero's Notes on the front.

Inside the blue cover, is an inner cover with a quote by Ernest Hemingway, and the Nero's Notes motto.

After that, there are 160 pages of 5mm dot-grid paper, which are all microperforated so that you can remove them (should you so desire). Right at the back is a card folder with two pockets (one front; one back), and a card about the notebook (in French).

Okay, that's all pretty dry... what's it actually like?

It's lovely! It comes wrapped in black tissue paper, nestled inside a black box, with "Calepino" in gold at the bottom, so even just opening it feels like you're unwrapping a special gift.

The cover is slightly textured, like linen, and the blue is a soft colour, reminiscent of long-loved jeans. The dots of the dot-grid are in grey and are subtle enough to disappear if you write over the top of them, but definite enough to act as a guide.

The paper is better for non-fountain pens, if I'm being brutally honest... there's some feathering and definitely some bleed-through with my menace of a pen (the gold-nibbed Platinum). It's not at all bad with gel pens, biros etc., and positively loves graphite.

And the spiral-binding that Stu and I profess to dislike? It allows the book to be completely bent back on itself so that the notebook's footprint on the desk remains A5. The firm cover and thickness of the book also means that if you want to write while leaning on your knee, that's no problem. As I said, I don't know why I think I don't like spiral-binding. I do!

Why are you still reading?? They're probably all gone by now! Hurry up!

Limited Edition Nero's Notes Calepino A5 spiral notebook