Lili Graffiti Notebook

On my recent Montréal shopping spree, I grabbed a lovely notebook from Lili Graffiti, with an illustrated cover showing an iconic Montréal street scene. It was in a mylar sleeve and I did not try to take it out, seeing the description that it was “lined” paper. Despite being staple-bound, I have been trying to overlook this recently as my new favourite notebooks are Goulet Pens’s staple-bound notebooks with lined 68gsm Tomoe River paper.

Upon pulling Lili’s notebook from its package and opening it, nothing especially unusual appeared. The paper felt of good quality, though I’ve yet to use it with either pencil or fountain pen. The big surprise came when I turned the next page.

The notebook was not lined, but rather “lined & sketch pages” (?) as described in the English product description, but more accurately noted as “blanches & lignées en alternance” in French. A very strange design decision, which I don’t see explained on the product itself not its website listing.

It reminds me of some notebooks I once saw available only in 3-packs of blank, lined and dot-grid. I guess some people have more diverse needs than I and that their needs are always in exactly equal proportion. Or perhaps there is a budding secondary market we’re missing? Either way, Lili’s wouldn’t work for the latter, but I disassembled the book and will be using it for letter-writing paper instead.