Traveling Salesman is another edition of Field Notes Colors that I missed out at first but later got (as a gift!). The most unique thing about Traveling Salesman is that it is a ledger book with thick, green pages inside. According to Field Notes, it was created as a tribute to the American door-to-door salesmen of the last century. In fact, they made a little podcast with Ron Solberg, the author of The Whizbangs of Oohs and Aahs, who is an expert in the history of American salesmen and an ex-salesman himself. It's full of interesting tidbits, so you should give it a listen! For example, I didn't know Jewel (of the Jewel-Osco supermarkets in the Midwest) started as a door-to-door coffee and tea seller. Neat-o!

I really like the combination of the rich brown and the embossed gold on the covers. Quite appropriate as a fall edition. Surprisingly, Traveling Salesman was not the intended fall edition for 2012. Expedition was going to be the fall edition that year, in time with Ben Saunders’ expedition to the South Pole. But when the expedition got delayed, Field Notes had to make something different for the fall at the last minute, and Traveling Salesman is what they came up with. Pretty impressive for a last minute project, in my opinion. In fact, the slightly off-centered logotype on its cover may be the only indication that it was a hurried project.

Gold on brown makes it almost like bronze. Love.

Firsts

Traveling Salesman is the first edition in the Colors series to feature ledger-style pages inside. Previous editions have all been either graph grid or dot grid, so this is the first to get some ruled pages. And the first to get the lines printed in two different colors! Red at the very top and green for the rest. Also, I believe it's the earliest Colors edition to get Mohawk paper as its innards and use Superior ink (as opposed to Toyo ink).

Traveling Salesman’s green innards (top) and Northerly's gray innards (bottom)

Northerly, the 2011 winter edition, beats Traveling Salesman in two aspects: embossed covers and non-white innards. But Traveling Salesman is the first to get the thicker innards, 70# instead of the usual 50#, that make the overall 3-pack bulkier. Apparently, the belly bands had to be remade because the original length of the belly band wasn't long enough to wrap around the books. Oops.

This is also the first time we see Stromberg Allen & Company as a printer for Field Notes Colors. Interestingly, Expedition is also printed by Stromberg Allen & Company. New printing partner means different machines for manufacturing: different saddle stitcher, printers, round-corner cutting machine, etc, which you can note yourself on the back inside cover. Detailing them here would be really geeking out. (Like this isn't already but… moving on).

I'm a Western Region representative! Represent!

Last but not least, Traveling Salesman is the first edition to come with its own matching button, made by Busy Beaver in Chicago, that says “Certified and Trained” as an “Authorized Representative” of Field Notes Brand. Subscribers certainly got one button, and I’m sure you got one if you bought Traveling Salesman directly from Field Notes but I'm not too sure if you bought it from other retailers. I got my button as a bonus with a later order directly from Field Notes. There were 5 different versions of the button, and depending on where you live, you got one of these: Southern, Eastern, Western, Midwestern, and International. I got the Western version but I'd love to get my hands on an International button!

Field Notes with thicker (70#) pages, from top: Shelterwood, America the Beautiful, and Traveling Salesman

I only recently used one book as a daily journal. I'd been saving it for a more math-related tasks or project-specific lists but I ended up just using it as one of my monthly journals (here). I really wanted to test it out, and I needed an autumn-ish book for October! In hindsight, I could've used both sides of the paper without any trouble (I use gel pens); I was able to fit only 10 days worth of writing because the ruling in this edition is bigger at 1/4", compared to the usual 3/16". But I enjoyed using it! Paper felt good and substantial, and I'm a fan of non-white pages in general. And French Paper covers! I'm definitely going to use more of it in the future, maybe not for journaling but more for lists.

Some fun (for me) details:

Traveling Salesman (Fall 2012) is the 16th in the COLORS series.
Item Number: FNC-16
Edition size: 24,000 books printed in October 2012
Cover: French Paper Pop-Tone 100#C in “Hot Fudge" with embossed logotype. Text printed with metallic soy-based Superior ink in “Fool's Gold”.
Ledger rules inside: “Sawbuck Green” and “Ledger Red” soy-based Superior ink
Paper inside: Mohawk Via 70#T in “Light Green”. FN also calls this “Eye-Ease” Green.
Belly band: Matching light green with dark green text
Extras:Matching button identifying the wearer as an official rep of FN! Made by Busy Beaver in Chicago.
Staples color: silver
No films but here's a Field Notes podcast: Door to Door

My Favorite “Practical Applications”:

#14. I.O.U.s to Forget
#22. Definitely-Not-Pyramid Schemes
#23. Half-Ass Guarantees
#30. Words of the Profits

What are your thoughts on Traveling Salesman? Have you used it as a ledger book? Which buttons do you have?

Quick color comparison, from left: National Crop’s Sorghum, Traveling Salesman, Original kraft, Drink Local Bock, Traveling Salesman, and Pitch Black.

Important update:

Please be advised, Pilot Pen Station featured in this old blog post has since CLOSED! It sadly closed in 2016.

Hello! It's been so long! Happy New Year!

M and I recently went to Japan and did some major stationery shopping. Do I have stuff to talk about! But first, as promised on Twitter, here are some pictures and thoughts on our visit to Pilot PEN STATION Museum & Café.

PEN STATION is comprised of a café on the ground floor and a museum on the second floor, at Pilot's corporate headquarters in Tokyo's Kyobashi neighborhood. Did we know this before we went to Japan? Nope! That's what's really neat about this part of our trip, that it was totally unplanned. We were in the neighborhood for something else when the familiar Pilot logo caught our attention from across the street. Pen museum?!? Sign us up! And free admission? Awesome. We ignored the (crowded) café and headed straight up to the 2nd floor.

As we guessed, the museum featured many of Pilot's pens in chronological order. It also had a couple videos and displays that explain how various types of pens work, how fountain pens are manufactured, how their Maki-e pens are made, etc. All in all, quite an educational place. By the way, I apologize for the low quality of these snapshots (no flash photography allowed!). I tried to focus more on soaking everything in, rather than taking great photos. Plus, most of the descriptions were in Japanese only. That takes effort to read. :D

The atmosphere of the museum was actually pretty nice and relaxing, I thought, with rich, shiny wood floors, glass everywhere, some artworks made with Pilot pens, and café tables. It wasn't crowded at all when we went. We noticed there was a large desk at one end of the main room where a couple people stopped by to talk to a Pilot representative. Huh! I learned later that you can get your Pilot pens repaired there. Cool!

While there, I really wished I was more experienced in fountain pens to appreciate all the pens on display. I'm a total n00b, so I didn't really know which pens to pay particular attention to. They all looked cool to me! I'm sure there were many pens pen addicts would drool over because there were several “Not for sale, display only” signs. Like this one:

Hey! I spot Pilot MYU 701! (right below 1971)

Satow Asuka is one of the artists featured at the museum who uses Pilot pens. There were some incredibly detailed artworks by her, made with her favorite pen Hi-Tec-C. And check out those whimsical shoes! (Hey, I have that Namae pen! It's sort of like Sharpie. Does that mean I can draw like her?!?)

The main takeaway for us from this museum was testing all the Iroshizuku colors. Next to the service desk, off to a corner, was a set of short fountain pens, each loaded with an Iroshizuku ink, and pads of paper. We later learned this is not unique to this museum (I think it was at Itoya where we found a similar sampling corner) but it was nevertheless a very memorable experience. Like I said, this was a random find, only on our 2nd full day in Tokyo! Anyway, we had fun testing each color, especially M because he's more of a fountain pen user than I am and had just gotten into Iroshizuku inks.

I think even if you don't know Japanese but love fountain pens or are a fan of Pilot, PEN STATION is worth a visit. Especially if you're going to be in the neighborhood anyway. It's in a more business-y neighborhood though, with many corporate office buildings. What were WE in the neighborhood for? There was a chicken yakitori restaurant (Isehiro) and a chocolate café (100% Chocolate Café) we really wanted to try. They both turned out to be great, especially the chicken place.

Various brochures I picked up at the museum, as any stationery nerd would do, right?

Pieces of paper with Iroshizuku colors we tested at the museum. That helped us make ink purchases later in the trip. :)

Here is the link again to the museum's official website with more detailed information: PEN STATION Museum & Café

In case you missed the note at the very top, Pilot Pen Station is CLOSED.

Firsts

Some fun (for me) details:

My Favorite “Practical Applications”:

WELCOME

COPYRIGHT

Field Notes by Theme

Field Notes Item Numbers

LEGIT “PRESS”

LATEST ENTRIES

MY WISHLIST