Clairefontaine Basic Clothbound A5 Notebook - Black, Dot Grid

Great paper, great price point, doesn't lay flat

The Clairefontaine paper is magnificent, the cover is flexible but sturdy, and the price was very reasonable. I only have two gripes about this book: 1. It doesn't lay flat. That's kind of a deal-breaker with me. For me, a Midori MD notebook is the standard. It lays absolutely flat - and is less expensive than this book, too. 2. The dot grid is a bit dark. It appears to be a purple color. Again, the Midori, with its light blue-green, barely there dots is perfect. I bought this book because I love Clairefontaine paper and I was curious about it. I'll probably find a use for it, but it's going on the shelf for now.

Fantastic paper!

I love Clairfontagne papers. The paper takes ink nicely. It’s not the absolute best at showing off some qualities of some inks, but it’s solid. It’s one of the best options if you care about how using paper affects ecology. Their forests are certified and they observe best practices in the making of their papers. This notebook in particular needs a bit of bearing in the lay flat, but it will once the binding is ceased a bit. I love having the option of a removable elastic closure! The only thing I truly wish for are numbered pages. It would really improve the utility of this notebook. I am a bullet journalist, and commonplacer, so keeping track of what’s in my notebook is important to me. It’s crucial to have numbered pages. It would improve this notebook’s utility immensely!!! I chose this notebook over the official BuJo because it’s less than half the price, and I don’t need all the special markings those notebooks have. But I do need the page numbers, and wish Clairfontagne would make this improvement, because this is an otherwise fantastic notebook!

Great daily carry

Apart from the high quality paper, it’s got great durability inspite of rather flimsy looking covers. I really tattered and beat up this notebook but it still look almost new. The only thing that annoyed me is the metal clasps that hold the band. Because of the clasps the notebook doesn’t lie quite flat — the right side is always lifted up a bit because of this part.