Sebregondi and Franceschi picked an astutely international selection of names to drop: an Englishman, an American, and a Frenchman encouraged cosmopolitan aspirations. “Made in China,” on the other hand, did not, so they left that bit out.

I don’t remember how I came about this history of the Moleskine notebook but oh what a history. “Chatwin, Hemingway, Matisse”, yeah right.

And I would have absolutely no complaints if it weren’t so ridiculously expensive for what you get. I want the Costco of premium mediocre notebooks, not the Nordstrom.