If you like using Moleskine notebooks you’ll probably really like what Piccadilly has to offer.  The Piccadilly is a hard cover notebook, has an expandable pocket in the back, a bookmark ribbon, and an elastic closure.  Throw in some rounded corners, a cheap price tag (I paid $5.99 for each of mine) and you’ve got yourself a solid notebook for less than half the price of a Moleskine.

There are some downsides to this notebook that may keep some people from buying it.  A little annoyance that is immediately noticable is the weak elasticity of the closure.  It has just enough tension to keep the book closed.  It does its job just fine, it just feels weak.  That certainly wouldn’t keep me from buying it again.  What will keep me from buying another one is the way ink feathers on this paper.  Depending on what ink you use this notebook may be unusable.

Below you’ll see an example of the Piccadilly compared to a Rhodia pad.  The Rhodia pad is the second line of writing on the bright white paper.  Some inks behave themselves better than others with Noodlers performing the best in my experience.

Below is the full list of inks I experimented with.  It is in the same format as above, the Piccadilly sample is first, then the Rhodia sample directly underneith.  Click the image for a larger resolution file that is 50% the size of the original scan.  The original scan is available for download, but please note it is about 30MB.

Piccadilly vs Rhodia, full resolution scan.

If you didn’t look at either of the scans I’ll do a quick summary of the worst feathering offenders and the most well behaved.  Taking top honors for the worst feathing ink is a toss between Walt Disney Signature Black by Monteverde and Diamine Imperial Blue.  Fighting for third place is a Levenger trio: Always Greener, Amethyst, and Skies of Blue.

I don’t think I can honestly say that there was a single ink that didn’t feather.  But, the inks with the least amount of feathering were J. Herbin Violette Pensée, Noodlers’ Tiananmen, Levenger Raven Black, and Private Reserve Dakota Red.

For the price of this notebook I’m not making any complaints, even though it probably sounds like I am.  I won’t buy another one, but I will use the two I have until they’re filled.  I just won’t get to use all the inks in my collection.  On Piccadilly’s website they state “Piccadilly Journals, Best value journals in the world”.  I don’t disagree.

This is the A5 size, 14.8 X 21 cm. It contains 48, 80g sheets of lined paper. My only problem with Rhodia’s lined paper is the spacing of their lines.  I write with fine, and extra fine nib fountain pens most of the time so I feel like I’m just wasting space with these extra wide lines.  I think it is somewhere around 8mm and I prefer a 5mm spacing similar to what is found in Piccadilly notebooks.  As you can see from the photo the corners are rounded, which is a huge plus in my book.

The paper is smooth, but not Clairefontaine smooth, at least in my experiences.  It has a little texture to it that you can feel through the pen, but it is not a fibrous texture like that of the Piccadilly paper.  I never feel that any of my fountain pens are going to catch on the paper and tear up fibers, even my custom ground cursive italics.

When I use Rhodia paper I don’t have to worry about feathering or ink bleeding through the page.  You can see the writing from the other side but that has never stopped me from using both sides of the sheet.  The paper isn’t transparent enough to make the visible text on the opposite side an annoyance.

The only problems I have with this specific notebook is its smallish 48 sheet capacity and no vertical lines for marking margins.  But, the small sheet size does keep the thickness down so when you get to the edge or bottom of the page and your hand sits below the page level down on the desk the height difference is minimal.  I find writing in that fashion very uncomfortable and usually prefer wire bound notebooks so I can fold all the pages back out of the way except for a few pages that I can use as a bit of a cushion.

If you’ve never used any of Rhodia’s pads I highly suggest you check out Rhodia’s website and find your nearest supply store.  If you don’t like it then post a comment and I’ll relieve it from your possession.