A paper field guide

Best for

Short lists for common questions, built only from the ratings already on the site. Each list has one written rule, and every notebook on it links to the reviews behind it.

The lists

How the lists are made

I apply each list’s rule to the ratings in the database and include every notebook that passes. Nothing is added by hand and nothing is left out by hand. A list only goes up if at least 4 notebooks qualify.

The ratings come from independent reviewers’ published tests, never from shops or brands. If a notebook isn’t on a list, it may simply not have been rated for that yet.

How we label ratings

Reviewers describe the same thing in different words, so every rating is put on one five-step scale: Very Low, Low, Medium, High, Very High. For bleed-through, feathering and ghosting that’s how much of it reviewers saw. For dry time it’s how long ink took to dry, and for sheen it’s how much sheen showed. Where a reviewer used other words or measured seconds, the notebook’s page shows their original wording next to the label.

Rating	Other wording we’ve seen, and the label it gets
Bleed-through	“Very rare” → Very Low; “Occasional” → Medium; “Common” → High
Feathering	“Very rare” → Very Low; “Occasional” → Medium; “Common” → High
Ghosting	“Heavy” → High; “Moderate” → Medium; “Show-through” → not graded
Dry time	“Fast” → Low; “Good” → Low; “Moderate” → Medium; “Slow” → High; “Very long” → Very High; measured seconds: 5 seconds or less → Low, 6–12 seconds → Medium, 13 seconds or more → High (using the upper figure of a range)
Sheen	“None” → Very Low

“Not graded” means the reviewer mentioned it without saying how much, so we don’t give it a label.