A MONTHLY UPDATE FROM INSIDE FIELD NOTES
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Hi, it’s Jim from Field Notes. This is the eighth edition of our monthly mail which contains a variety of stuff that doesn’t really fit anywhere else. Please respond to this email if you have comments, questions, or suggestions. |
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TLDR Version: Dickerson, WotD, Crossing Out, Press Fest, Local Notes, Big-Timing, Totality |
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Reporter and author John Dickerson has been a Field Notes customer for many years. During that time we’ve become friendly and when he once wrote me to say, “You need to make a Field Notes Reporter’s Notebook,” I responded, “OK, but you need to help.” The result of that exchange and subsequent collaboration was The “Byline” Edition which debuted in 2016 as a seasonal release. We also shot a film with John in his Washington, DC office to accompany the launch. |
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The reinvented Reporter’s Notebook has since become a standard part of our line as “Front Page.” |
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John has been carrying a pocket notebook of one type or another for his entire career. He has just created a podcast series called Navel Gazing in which he invites listeners to “join him in figuring out what these thirty years of notebooks mean: sorting out what makes a life—or a day in a life—noteworthy.” |
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In the first episode of the series that dropped on Saturday, John referred to a pocket notebook used for the collection of, and reflection on, daily thoughts and observations, “a noticing machine for the present.” I love that. We’re sponsoring the series, and I highly recommend you give it a listen. Navel Gazing is available from Apple, or, as they say, wherever you get your podcasts. |
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We launched our Spring Quarterly Edition, featuring the art of Emmy Star Brown, on March 19th. As a nod to the Roman goddess of flowers and the coming of Spring, we named it “Flora.” The very next day, Mirriam Webster’s Word of the Day was “Flora.” Etymologically speaking, I guess there was something in the air that week. |
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As an aside, if you’re the sort of person who would follow a dictionary on Instagram, then @mirriamwebster is the one to follow. The account is fun, informative, and anything but stuffy. |
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SD Deal: We’ve taken the original “Flora” artwork and made it available in beautiful, signed and numbered print sets. Use coupon code STAPLEDAY before 4/15 to save $20 on a Flora Art Print Set. |
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“Lists procreate; they give rise to other lists. Nell wonders if there’s a special therapy for excessive list-making. But if the two of them don’t make lists, how will they remember what they need? Anyway, they like crossing things off. It makes them feel that they are getting somewhere.” ―Margaret Atwood, from “Old Babes in the Woods” |
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Pro Tip: Go ahead and add tasks to your list after you have completed them. It still feels good to cross them off. |
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Four of our Quarterly Limited Editions have been produced on lovingly maintained, vintage printing presses, and we’ve made films about the process and people behind each. |
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The print run for “Raven’s Wing” in the fall of 2010 was 5,000 3-Packs, and while that was a big job for a one-man shop, it was doable. By 2015 and the printing of “Two Rivers,” which was done in combination with, and to raise funds for, the Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum, the run was 27,500. So we had to build a couple months into the schedule since all 82,500 covers had to be printed in two passes each, by hand. |
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The films for these four letterpress editions are instructive and informative, but most importantly they show the kindness, enthusiasm, and ingenuity of a community of people who have dedicated a part of themselves to studying and preserving the old way of doing things. |
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If you’re in Chicago, or can get here quick. |
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An Occasional Vintage Book & Record Shop: James Hughes and Dante Carfagna run Paper Or Plastic, and have amazing taste in books, paper ephemera, records, etc. They’re hosting a pop-up this weekend, April 12-14, from Noon to 6 at 1516 W. Carroll. You should go. |
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James and I engineered a themed barter. He gave me a first-edition of Jim Harrison’s Legends of the Fall in exchange for ten 3-Packs of our sold-out “Autumn Trilogy” Edition. Those will be for sale at the pop-up for $20 each. I however, will not be entertaining offers for the book. |
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At the start we tried to seem like a bigger company than we were. We figured that would be helpful when dealing with larger retailers, potential partners, and the press. The truth is, there has always been around ten of us. (Not counting artists, craftspeople and other co-conspirators.) We haven’t been dishonest about it, just assumed an attitude that we were “established.” Well, OK, we did paint our front door to read FIELD NOTES MIDWEST HEADQUARTERS. It’s a true statement, it just sort of implies that maybe there are other ones. |
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I guess that actually we’re with Mies. You know, less is more. Or, as Jeff Bezos put it, “If you can’t feed your team with two large pizzas, your team’s too big.” |
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The Eclipse Ate My Homework
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At the last minute we decided to put together a Total Eclipse Giveaway for Monday. Lots of people took part and 100 of them were randomly selected to receive a sold-out “Lunacy” Edition pack. Plus, we had perfect weather in Chicago for watching the big event. All this is to say that we didn’t get our “possibly insane” contest together in time for today’s Staple Day. Barring some unforseen celestial event, we’ll do that in May. |
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We have a ton of products, events, and partnerships in the works for this summer. My daily to-do list (in a trusty Steno, natch) is getting a real workout. Your support makes all this fun stuff possible. Thanks for that. |
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* Coined a long time ago in the Field Nuts Facebook group, “Staple Day” is traditionally observed when a writer reaches the exact middle of a Field Notes Memo Book, revealing the metal fasteners which bind the cover and the interior pages together. |
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