Original 1951 Notebook

The Original 1951 is a reissue of the original notebook made in that year by its renowned French manufacturer, Clairefontaine. Legend has it that this is the model of notebook used by Julia Child to record her recipes when she was a student at Le Cordon Bleu. (The notebook made a cameo appearance in Julie & Julia, Nora Ephron’s 2009 movie.)

The A5 pages are smooth, white, French-milled, 90 g paper that is ruled, marker- and fountain pen–friendly, acid-free, and pH neutral. The blue cover has a blank subject window.

The company was founded in 1858 in the town of Etival Clairefontaine, ninety kilometers from Strasbourg, in the valley of the Meurthe River. The production of paper became an important business there because of the availability of rags supplied by the local textile industry. In 1880, the company’s paper mill began manufacturing envelopes, soon to be followed by the iconic notebooks. 

Walk into any stationery shop in France and you’ll see an extensive array of this company’s beloved notebooks. Clairefontaine manufactures the classic composition books introduced to French schoolchildren in primary school; the notebooks, in various bindings and sizes, then become seemingly indispensable for decades to come.

 Softbound with a clothbound spine; blue; ninety-six sheets (193 pages); 5.75" x 8.25".