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RETRO WRITING: Moleskines, notebooks of note for centuries

BY COURTNEY REIMER | Special to Newsday

March 5, 2008

Kevin Johnston is a self-described "tech-geek" who takes pride in being among the first to buy the newest Apple gadgets as soon as they hit the market. But much as he's obsessed with all things digital and of-the-moment, Johnston has equal passion for a decidedly retro piece of "information technology": the Moleskine notebook.

Moleskines (pronounced (mol-a-skeen-a) - the matte-black hardcover notebooks their makers say mirror those used by Hemingway, van Gogh and Picasso - are a favorite among people like Johnston, who say they appreciate design and quality as much as functionality.

"It's about feel for me. Just the feel of the high-stock paper, and turning the page and pressing it down into the spine. It just feels important," said Long Island-bred Johnston, 33, who pays regular visits to his family in Kings Park and Garden City when he's not plugging away at his writing career in Manhattan. "It makes my writing feel more important than it probably is."

Although Johnston still uses his iPhone to type and store his quick notes-to-self, when it comes to writing, he says, he prefers to do it the old-fashioned way.

"There's a feel you get putting pen to paper that you just don't get clacking away on a keyboard," he said.

Johnston is in good company. Although it seems traditional journal-keeping has been eclipsed by the online storytelling of blogs, and the e-card has overtaken the handwritten letter as the preferred method of communication between loved ones,

Moleskines have become the notebook of choice for the literary-hipster set. According to a Moleskine spokeswoman, 4 million journals sold worldwide via 15,000 retailers and brought in $185 million for its maker last year - a 35 percent increase from 2006. The company expects U.S. sales to increase by 40 percent in 2008.

Both Canio's Books in Sag Harbor and Book Revue in Huntington stock Moleskines, as do the bigger Long Island bookstores such as Barnes & Noble. Owners at both independent stores said they began carrying the line in response to customer demand. At Canio's, co-owner Maryann Calendrille says Moleskines have been steady sellers since her store started stocking them a few years ago. She counts herself and many of her colleagues among the devotees.

"We all use them," Calendrille says. "They're just extremely well made, comfortable and beautiful."

Moleskine's high-quality aesthetic is reflected in its price: Its 20-plus varieties of hard- and soft-cover notebooks cost $8 to $30 each, with the standard 5-by-8-inch size retailing for about $17. An annual planner is listed for more than $70.

Book Revue owner Richard Klein says Moleskines have been steadily popular with the design-conscious Long Islanders who tend to patronize his store. He says they seek "that kind of item" over the flimsier notepads one might find in office supply or drug stores. "We only have a few left right now," Klein said last week.