Walk into any stationery shop in France and you’ll see an extensive array of these beloved notebooks. Here, we are offering the spiral-bound version of the classic composition books introduced to French schoolchildren in primary school; the notebooks, in various bindings, sizes, and colors then become seemingly indispensable for decades to come. In cafes, you’ll see adults writing in them; in grocery stores, consulting them; they’re pulled out of briefcases, purses, and backpacks; they’re on desks in libraries and in bookstores. Anywhere someone needs to write something, there seems to be a Clairefontaine notebook.

This version is ruled, with a margin; the spiral allows the notebook to lie flat (we also offer the more basic model with stapled binding). The pages are smooth, 90g, ivory, French-milled paper that is ruled, acid-free, pH neutral, marker and fountain pen-friendly.

The French company that manufactures these notebooks was founded in 1858 in the town of Etival Clairefontaine, ninety kilometers from Strasbourg, in the valley of the Meurthe River. There, the production of paper became an important business 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. 

Softbound; Side wire bound; 50 sheets (100 pages), 8-1/4" x 11-3/4" (A4). Choose by cover color.