This is the second full-size Moleskine I’ve filled; This one lasted from August 2008 to December 2009, which is about as long as the first one. I went through a number of pens and inks on the first, but settled on a Pilot Knight fountain pen filled with Noodler’s Bulletproof Black by the time I finished it. I used the same pen through the second one, though I switched to Noodler’s Heart of Darkness and swapped the regluar medium nib for an italic.

I wrote on the right-hand page, and pasted a photo on from the day I wrote the entry on the opposite page. It’s a good feeling – the journal ends up with a nice heft, and it gives you a sense of progress. It adds literal weight to the words inside.

I wrote in it with a variety of pens. I started with a Parker Jotter ballpen, then lost it and switched to a Parker Vector medium point fountain pen with blue Quink. After that ran out, I switched to Noodler’s Polar Black. Unsatisfied with how the paper handled so much liquid ink, I changed to a Pilot Knight with a Montblanc fine point black rollerball refill. I switched to an Ohto Tasche medium point compact fountain pen with Noodler’s Polar Black when I got it, then back to the Knight/Montblanc. Keren got me a fine point Pilot Knight fountain pen, which I used with the same polar black ink until it was full.

It’s sad to see it go, but it’s a record of a very different place and time of my life, and I’m happy to have the memories preserved. It saw me through two homes in two cities and states, four cars, three jobs, my marriage and the birth of my daughter. Godspeed, Moleskine.

It’s replaced by a new Moleskine, same size and type. I’ve had it since the end of last year, but I have a strict rule about finishing the previous book before using the new one. While it’s the same size and kind, the Moleskine manufacturing process has changed. The oilcloth cover is much softer on the new journal, the elastic band is narrower and thinner, and the paper is better. I was surprised at the paper. The old one was quite scratchy for a fountain pen, while the new one is much smoother and doesn’t seem to feather as bad. With all of the bad noise about decreasing Moleskine quality, it’s nice to see that their paper is improving.

I would post some pictures of old vs. new, but my camera is currently unavailable. My old Moleskine had a defend Capitol Hill sticker on the back and a Logic Probe (a Seattle noise band) button on the band. The new one is currently unadorned.

I also failed to mention when I got them, but I got a set of the new Volants. They’re straight from Italy; they should be going into U.S. shops any day now. They’re better than I thought. I expected them to have the mushy-soft texture of the soft-cover notebooks/planners, but they feel very much like the old Volants. While there are two new sizes (large and extra small, in addition to the normal pocket size), they are only available with ruled paper. The old Volants came in squared, ruled, and plain.