I’ve been a fan of Vito & the gang’s notebooks since they started with their Kickstarter launch. I love the good they’re doing with the matching story kits to kids with each purchase, but selfishly I love they make notebooks with 70# fountain-pen friendly paper!

The two current offerings have the same, smooth inside paper, but the different covers take each in a little bit different direction. I feel like I’m wearing a nice denim shirt when I’m using their original blue-cover Pocket Staple, but when I have the Edition 407 out, I’m dressed in a 100% pinpoint cotton dress shirt ironed just so. I was slow to get some 407s since I had a decent stock of the Pocket Staple and after all, they had the same wonderful inside paper. But while the Pocket Staple comes in blank, ruled, or grid innards, I guess I was slow to notice the 407 have my new favorite: dot grid. And not just any dot grid, but one printed very lightly: you can see it when you need it but it’s very low-keyed and doesn’t interfere with writing.

When I got my first pack of 407s, I emailed Vito to find out what new wizardry paper he added to these, since the overall experience, I thought, was a notch above the already exceptional Pocket Staple. Turned out to be a pure trick of the mind, since it’s the same paper in both. Realizing it’s the combination of the light dot grid and the silky linen cover with the understated embossed logo versus a printed one, it still feels a titch more special to use. In case you’re wondering, 407 was the number of Kickstarter backers thus the Edition 407 is a tribute notebook of sorts to those who helped launch the brand. The decision to go with an embossed logo was an intentional understating to deliver the message that the brand is not in the forefront: it’s really about the supporters and the story kit mission. Read all about the story kits here.

If you haven’t tried the 407s, don’t hesitate: I believe they may be discontinuing them. The nicer cover and embossing does bump the cost up, and with their prime mission of supplying the story kits to schools, cost plays a strong factor in their offerings. I expect we’ll see other dot grid notebooks in the future from Story Supply, since it seems one of the most popular page formats these days.

Disclaimer: All notebooks were purchases by me and not provided in consideration for a review.