I have written about Nanami Seven Seas notebooks before. They are made with Tomoe River paper which is half the thickness of regular paper but works as well as much thicker paper. It is the same paper as the Hobonichi planners and very similar (though not the same) as Midori Lightweight paper. That means a book with 500 sides (250 pages) is the same thickness and weigh as one half the size.
Nanami produces these A5 notebooks in blank, lined and now GRID paper. The grid paper one went up for sale yesterday. If they are sold out, keep checking as they update stock regularly.
This is the description on the website:
Seven Seas “CROSSFIELD” A5 Grid Journal 1st Edition
Introducing the Seven Seas Crossfield – 480 pages of WHITE Tomoe River paper with a light blue cross grid.
PLEASE NOTE: IF THIS ITEM APPEARS OUT OF STOCK please check back later. We inspect notebooks daily, and then update inventory. Sometimes inspection can’t keep up with orders, so we end up out of stock in the system. Most likely we DO have physical inventory that just needs to be processed for sale.
Finally – a Tomoe River notebook with a grid! Construction is the same as the Seven Seas Standard, except that it comes with white TR paper and a dark red coated-fabric cover. Same lay-flat binding! Same massive page count!
Features:
- Flexible, semi-stiff coated fabric cover.
- Smythe-sewn (thread-bound), lay-flat binding
- White Tomoe River paper – lots and lots of it
- No cover printing or branding except for the back end sheet
- Comes with a kraft slip case
The pages are “thread-bound”, which is a very old and still the best production method of bookbinding. Thread-bound pages are sewn (with a special sewing machine) into signatures, which are gathered to form a text-block, which is then cased into a cover. This method allows the journal to lay flat with no stress to the spine, and for that reason it is the absolute best method for binding a book (including a library book) that sees the daily rigors of opening, closing and pressing down with the hands. It can even be folded back on itself. If you were to go on an around-the-world trip over the course of many months and needed to document your experiences in great detail, this journal would certainly be up to the task.
The paper size is A5 (148x210mm or 8.3×5.8 inches), and 15mm thick. The cover is made of buckram, which, aside from leather, is the absolute toughest flexible cover material available. The cover has also been made stiffer through the use of a core board sandwiched between the buckram fabric and the end sheets. You can use the book as-is, or put it inside a leather, cloth, paper, vinyl, fabric, etc. outer cover.
Tips:
- The notebook will lay flatter if you bend it back on itself a bit. Go ahead and bend it backwards! It won’t break.
- If you use a fine-to-medium fountain pen, the ink will generally dry fast enough. If it doesn’t, close the book on the included pink blotter sheet.
- If you use a pencil, softer leads such as 2B and 3B work well.
- Pencil marks erase very cleanly from this paper, and using a high quality eraser is pure pleasure. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself making mistakes on purpose.
- If you find the book a bit thick for your writing style, please read this.
Recommended accessories:
- Cheap Notebook Cover and Insert
- MF Faux Leather A5 Notebook Cover with bookmark
- Seven Seas + Gfeller Kip leather cover
- Herz of Japan Italian leather covers
- Super Clips and Mini Clips
- Hard or soft writing mats – Order size A5; larger works well too
- Blotter paper – Order size A5 (please note that the notebook already comes with one sheet)
Specifications:
- Size A5, 210x148mm, 15mm thick, (8.3×5.8×0.7 inches)
- White-color (which is really an off-white) Tomoe River “Notebook” paper
- 5mm cross grid (not actually a full grid; rather, 2mm crosses
- 480 pages (240 leaves), no lines, rounded corners
- Lay-flat thread binding
- Flexible, tough, thin water-resistant coated-fabric cover
- Ivory-colored end sheets
- Comes with one A5 blotter paper
- Made in Japan
ABOUT MANUFACTURING VARIATION: We’ve found that Tomoe River paper, and thin paper in general, is unlike working with “regular” weight papers such as 20 lb bond, laid, wove, etc. papers (we have actually be unable to find any binders in the US that are willing to work with TR paper). Tomoe River paper is very sensitive to humidity, and when bound in a thick book by machine as ours are, some unexpected variations can occur. So far, we’ve experienced the following (also please see the pictures):
- Rippled pages
- A subtle “waviness” on the edge of the book block
- Dog-eared pages (rare)
None of these issues will affect the writing surface or quality of the writing experience, and it’s not practical for us to go through each book page-by-page (these issues can be quite random). However, if for any reason you are not satisfied with the book you receive, please let us know (dave@nanamipaper.com) and we’ll do our best to rectify the situation. Thank you for your understanding!
They always seem out of stock of everything when I go there. I have the Hobonichi diary
And love A5 notebooks, but never seem to find any stock. Oh well I’ll try every day for a week or two.