Elia Note Journal (Dot Grid) Review

If you follow me closely here, you’ll know that I’m partial to notebooks with Tomoe River paper. Made in Japan, it is almost indisputably the most fountain-friendly page out there. Recently I came across another notebook that features TR sheets, the impressive Elia Note Journal.

Elia Note is headquartered in Malaysia. Their website features three different varieties of Tomoe River notebooks - blank, dotted, and lined. They also sell what appear to be some nice covers to fit their notebooks. I was recently given a dotted version, always my favorite, and I’ve been very impressed.

The journal arrives in a protective tan box. It features a plain, but solid, black cover. Inside are 496 pages of 5mm grid paper. These are the thinner, 52 gsm TR pages, which I prefer over the 68 gsm ones. That explains how you they can pack all those pages inside. As with all Tomoe River, it writes like a dream. It’s so smooth. And there’s very little bleed-through or show-through. The only thing you have to watch out for is dry-time. It does take longer. Smudges are common. Blotter sheets are essential. But the smoothness and sheen of the page are more than worth it.

This is a quality notebook. I think I prefer the more standard dots over against the larger, Nanami micro-dots. While this is certainly not a cheap journal, it’s a quality one. With this many pages, it will last months and months. I highly recommend the Elia Note dot grid journal.