Moleskine is the legendary notebook that the European artists and intellectuals who made twentieth-century culture used: from Henri Matisse to the turn-of-the-century Parisian avant-garde, from Louis Férdinand Céline to Ernest Hemingway. Writer-traveler Bruce Chatwin picked up this tradition and made it famous.
A simple black rectangle with squared or lined pages, endleaves held by an elastic band, an inside pocket for loose sheets, a binding in 'moleskine' which gives it its name, this trusty, pocket-size traveling companion guarded notes, stories, thoughts and impressions before they turned into the pages of beloved books.
Chatwin used to buy his moleskine at a Paris stationery shop in Rue de l’Ancienne Comédie. He always stocked up on them before going off on one of his journeys. He had a ritual set up over the years -before using them, he numbered the pages, wrote his name and at least two addresses in the world with the promise of a reward in case they got lost. "Losing my passport was the least of my worries, losing a notebook was a catastrophe".
He even suggested this method to his friend Luis Sepùlveda on giving him a precious moleskine before the trip to Patagonia that they were never to do together. It was precious because by then notebooks were no longer to be found. In 1986, even the last producer, a small family concern in Tours closed down. "Le vrai moleskine n’est plus" were the lapidary words of the stationer to Chatwin who had ordered one hundred before leaving for Australia Chatwin bought up all the Moleskines he could find but there were not enough. Now, the Moleskine is back again. It can go back to being a witness passing from one pocket to another and continue the adventure. Its still-blank pages will tell the rest. |
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