Maruman Bodoni A5 Notebook with Cover Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And her latest book, The Atropine Tree, is now available!)

This Maruman Bodoni A5 Notebook is the ultimate in minimalist elegance. I wouldn't normally think that about something so aggressively orange, but the design of it is so sleek that it screams fancy. But it's not! JetPens has the Maruman Bodoni notebook for just $17.50. And it does come in Black or Blue if you need something for your more formal writing events.

The cover is made from a very thin sheet of faux leather. It's firm enough to serve as a writing surface, but soft enough to be flexible. The front inside cover is a rounded folded flap embossed with a portrait of Giambattista Bodoni, who was a typographer and printer in Italy in the 17th century. The inside back cover is a folder pocket where the notebook's insert slides in. The cover closes with an elastic band around the middle.

The insert is an A5 Maruman notebook with 40 sheets of 60gsm blank paper. A 3-pack of the refills costs $13.00. Because they're so slim, you might need a few extras on hand. Other thin notebooks will fit in this cover, as well, so you can substitute your favorite if you have a preference.

The paper inside the insert was fairly good, although it did show some feathering and bleeding with liquid inks in broad nibs. Dark rollerball ink had enough show-through that it would be difficult to use the back side of a page. The paper was fantastic for fine nibbed pens, gel pens, or pencils. The notebook has a glue binding that allows the pages to be cleanly removed, but has enough hold that the pages stay attached if you don't peel them.

The highlight of this notebook is really its slim simplicity. While it's not enough paper for penning an epic work of writing, it would be great for meeting notes. It's thin enough to slip it into a laptop sleeve alongside your tech and it was great to take traveling when I needed to pack light.

While it might not be fine leather or the best quality paper, it looks and feels like a very fancy product and it's been quite enjoyable to use. If you're looking for a well-made, minimal, elegant notebook without the high price tag, this is perfect.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Maruman Bodoni Notebook Review

The Bodoni line of notebooks from Maruman is named after Giambattista Bodoni, an Italian typographer, type-designer, printer and publisher in Parma, Italy back in the late 1700s/early 1800s. He created the Bodoni typeface, which is still used today.

From the Maruman website, “BODONI is a notebook that aims to improve skills and enrich daily life in various fields such as business scenes and lifestyles”. They come in at least 2 sizes (A5 and A4, and possibly A6) and come in Ruled (lined), Grid, and Blank. I will be reviewing the Ruled A5 Bodoni today.

Pack of 3 Maruman Bodoni A5 Notebooks. The graphic on the red tab shows that this is the Ruled notebook.

The back of the binding also indicates the type.

The notebooks are sold in a pack of 3. Each notebook comes with 40 unnumbered sheets/80 pages of 60 gsm paper. The notebook has a light cream, flexible cardstock cover, and there is a red tab on the lower left depicting the type of ruling, if any. The glue-bound paper isn’t attached to the cover on the edge which allows the notebooks to lay flat. Just for grins, I tried to tear off a sheet of the first page and it doesn’t appear to be meant for use as a paper pad. In the middle of the notebook cover is an embossed depiction of Giambattista Bodoni. It’s so subtle, it’s barely noticeable unless you’re looking at it from an angle with some light on it. I thought it was a neat touch.

The embossed image of Giambattista Bodoni. Scroll back up to see the whole front and you can easily miss this detail.

The interior binding of the notebook gave the impression that it is a notepad, but pages didn’t tear out. This seems to allow it to lay flat when open.

I decided to use my currently inked pens, but didn’t bring any non-FPs to my in-laws’ house (oops, my bad.)

The 60 gsm BODONI paper is just barely off-white and has a line in the upper outer corner for the date (the Grid and Blank notebooks do not have this). The paper is quite smooth, similar to Clairefontaine or 68 gsm Tomoe River. It was quite nice to write on, if you like pretty smooth paper. It held up to almost every fountain pen ink, except one - De Atramentis Document Turquoise, which you may recall also bled through the Perpanep notebooks. I didn’t have many shimmer or sheening inks in my pens but it handled them as well as saturated and shading inks just fine.

Note: Writing samples were used on the back pages of the notebooks so I can still use them from front to back when I’m done with testing it.

48 pens’ worth of writing samples. This also shows how flat the notebook was when it was opened to the second to the last page.

Paper behaved well with a variety of pens and inks. I especially liked the shading from Robert Oster’s Rose Gilt Tynte (a shimmer ink) and Pelikan Edelstein Mandarin.

I used a fairly sharp flex nib by StyloSuite, inked up with Diamine Meadow, and the paper handled both the sharp nib and the added ink from the downward flex without any problems.

Even De Atramentis Document Turquoise looked good on the front side, but…

Flip the page over and you can tell which line had De Atramentis Document Turquoise. Two lines below, you can kind of see a dot of bleed through from where I accidentally poked the paper with the nib.

Other than noted above, there was no major ghosting and no bleedthrough with the other pens/inks.

I decided to do some writing on both sides of the paper to see if the very minimal ghosting was distracting.

I used a Platinum 3776 with a Medium nib, inked up with Diamine Havasu Turquoise for the writing.

No bleed through, minimal ghosting.

Writing on the back side.

Back to the front side and you can tell that there was writing on the back but it does not distract or interfere with the writing on the front.

Closeup of the writing on both sides.

While I personally wouldn’t use the lined notebook for swatches (because the lines are too distracting), the paper seemed to hold up just fine.

I used the steel Kakimori dip nib for this swatch of Van Dieman’s Snowy Mountain Sunset (which looks amazing and I can’t wait to ink it up), and the shimmer looks just fine.

You can definitely see that there is an ink swatch on the other side but it didn’t bleed through.

A few things to note that apply to the BODONI notebooks:

— No page numbers. I am used to notebooks and planners that have page numbers but it’s not a big deal breaker for me, especially for a notebook this thin.

— Fairly thin notebook. I almost want to call this an “insert” as opposed to a “notebook” because there aren’t many pages, but since it isn’t bound in the middle, it probably wouldn’t work well in elastic systems like Travelers or Lochby, etc. This isn’t a pro or con, just that there are only 40 sheets. I normally prefer 150-200 page notebooks but it was nice to have something thin for shorter projects or using one for studying different subjects.

— Maruman does offer the notebook with a cover as well, but I couldn’t find the cover separately.

The Maruman BODONI A5 notebooks are available for $15 for a pack of 3 from Vanness Pens, making them $5/notebook. Overall, the paper behaved well and it was really nice to write on. It was fine writing on both sides as well. I didn’t find the paper overly smooth so unless you prefer paper with a bit more tooth, you should enjoy this as well.

(Vanness Pens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Maruman Reccer B7 Memo Pad Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

No matter what my favorite notebook or paper is at any given point of time, I always need a small notepad or notebook on my desk or wherever I'm hanging out. The most recent memo pad I've kept at my desk is the Reccer from Maruman. This B7 memo pad is small enough to fit anywhere, but just large enough for jotting down quick notes or sketches.

B7 isn't one of the more common sizes, so here's some specs. At just 67x132mm or 2.6x5.2 inches, you can easily throw this little pad in a pocket or bag when you are on the go, but it can also fit in just about any small space on your workspace. The paper is typical Maruman quality and weighs in at 70gsm. The paper is lined with 5.5mm spacing, and the lines alternate between solid and dotted. There aren't any page numbers or spaces for dates, titles, etc. All 50 sheets (100 pages) are perforated for easy removal.

The main reason this little memo pad has been such a hit for me is the paper quality. It's not terribly thick, but it handles ink incredibly well. The paper is smooth and provides a little feedback. There's also minimal show-through on the back side of the page, so both sides are completely usable. I'm really surprised by how little show-through there is for 70gsm paper. It feels and acts more like 80 or 90gsm. Not bad!

The twin spiral top binding is petite, but still strong. The diameter is large enough to make flipping through the pages easy. The bottom corners are rounded off so there aren't any sharp corners to snag on fabric. Overall, this memo pad is an exceptional tool to keep on your workspace, in your bag, or even on your person. It's versatile and easy to carry while also being just big enough to remain functional.

At just $3, the Maruman Reccer is also a great value. Since picking one up, I've learned that I need a few more to stash in different places.

(Vanness Pens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!