It's Small Business Saturday! Stop By to See New Arrivals from Lochby, Tom's Studio, and More!

Just a friendly reminder that we’re open today from 10am until 6pm, for what’s become known as “Small Business Saturday,” a day between Black Friday and “Cyber Monday” to support your local community-based shops! Our in-store specials are the same as our online “INKSGIVING” promotion, and we have plenty for you to peruse in person, including new two-pen “Duo” cases from Lochby, new colors of the Mini Venture Pouch, and more. We also have newly arrived ink from Tom’s Studio (a classic “Sepia” color), and a full restock of the Lumos and Wren lines.

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Though it started out as a commercial holiday, Small Business Saturday means a lot to many small boutique shops and businesses that depend on the holidays for a significant portion of their revenue. In my opinion, small shops are what add character to a community, whether that’s your town, city, or online hobbyist Discord server. While I try to encourage people to shop small throughout the year, don’t underestimate the importance of today in the midst of all the “Black Friday” craziness! Where you spend your dollars makes a real difference.

If you need advice on a holiday gift idea, please check out our 2025 Holiday Gift Guide, but it may be easier for you to come in and speak to us in person. I spent much of yesterday advising customers on gift ideas, and I’ll be there all day today. We hope to see you soon!

New Arrivals: More Notsu Notecards, New Notecard Holders, Plus Midori XS Stationery Accessories!

Just in time for the holidays, we received a giant box from Notsu yesterday with more Centre Rise Notecard Sets (featuring vertical “To Do” cards), the Centre Notecard Set (featuring horizontal “To Do” cards), and two new colors of Notsu’s vegan leather Notecard Holders, which are now available in gray and dark brown!

We also offer the Midori XS Stationery kit components available for purchase separately, including the XS Staplers, Glue Tape, Correction Tape, and Paper Cutters. We’ve carried the popular XS Stationery travel kits for a while now, and you can now buy refills or the mini components separately to build your own kit. These are excellent office supplies for a go-bag or travel journaling.

Check out these items and more in our latest release of the annual T.G.S. Holiday Gift Guide! Note that we have special hours this week in our Nashville store, and will be open from 2:00pm-6:00pm Wednesday, Closed on Thursday (Thanksgiving), and will open from 10:0am-6:00pm Friday and Saturday to kick off the holiday shopping season! We hope to see you there!

Hierarchies of Fountain Pen Friendly Paper: Updated Resource!

I’ve spent the last two days updating the site resource “Hierarchies of Fountain Pen Friendly Paper,” which was originally a blog post first published in 2021. It’s garnered such a good response - 50+ comments at last count - that I’ve left it in blog format just to maintain the active comment section. I periodically update the main article to account for changes in paper performance, new brands, and customer/reader feedback. Because I can’t test everything, I leave the comments open for suggestions.

What Were the Major Developments in 2025?

I added a handful of brands to the resource, and removed one or two others mainly due to availability issues. Here are the major changes:

• Write Notepads Drops Off the List. Write Notepads left the direct-to-consumer market, at least for now, to focus on B2B sales. While I understand that may change in the future, for now their products are not as widely available so I’m leaving them out of this resource which focuses primarily on retail products.

• Stàlogy and Blackwing Move Into Tier I. While I’ve considered these two brands “Tier II” fountain pen friendly paper in the past, I’ve noticed an increase in consistency so I’ve moved both of them into Tier I. With Blackwing, note that this refers only to their standard paper. Some of their special edition notebooks may use different paper which may or may not perform similarly.

• Notsu and Shorthand Make an Appearance. These two brands make new appearances in Tiers I and II, respectively. Notsu is one of my favorite new stationery brands out there, and their ink friendly index cards have become a staple of my personal rotation. Los Angeles-based Shorthand makes a wide range of notebooks, notepads, and correspondence stationery, and while I would limit fountain pens to extra-fine or fine nibs, I love the feel of their vintage-y off-white paper and sturdy covers and spiral bindings.

Note that this is not intended to be a “ranking,” and the order in which these papers appear in each tier are not intended to suggest that any one is objectively “better” than another. Also, even non-fountain pen friendly paper can be quality stationery. Certain high-end cotton papers are tactile and highly absorbent - quite pleasant to write on with pencil, ballpoint, and rollerballs - but they can’t handle the water-based ink found in most fountain pens. Enjoy, and as always, drop a comment if you have suggestions on paper I may not have tried.

The Gentleman Stationer is supported entirely by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program. If you’d like to see any of the papers mentioned here in person, or even try some of them, come by our brick-and-mortar shop located in Nashville!

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Need a Last Minute Gift Idea? Consider a T.G.S. Giftcard! Also, new Pocket Pen Arrivals!

For those of you (us) who might need to come up with a few last-minute gift ideas, remember that we do offer T.G.S. Gift Cards! These will be delivered via e-mail, with the code valid for redemption either online or in-store. Gift cards are excellent options for fountain pen enthusiasts in particular, as we can be picky! If you need additional last minute ideas or gifts for New Years or post-Christmas arrival, check out the gift guide.

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Rite in the Rain hardcover journals are the field notebook of choice for many who work outdoors or simply love to explore.

While too late for Christmas delivery, this week we received shipments of new products from Fisher Space Pen and Rite in the Rain, including “write anywhere” pocket pens and Rite in the Rain’s weatherproof journals and notebooks for all your 2025 adventures!

While our online shop remains open, our physical location will be closed until Friday, December 27, when we will resume normal hours! Happy holidays to all!

Ask TGS: Five Bad Stationery Gift Ideas

Since it’s that time of year again, the T.G.S. hotline has been ringing with questions about gift ideas. While most of our general advice is set out in the annual gift guide, many of you still prefer to write in with specific questions, and that’s ok! I enjoy hearing from readers and talking through potential purchases, though I sometimes find myself talking people down from what I’d consider missteps. Here are five stationery-related holiday gifts that I would avoid.

1. Unsolicited Fountain Pen Purchases. For years I’ve been discouraging fountain pen gift purchases, and this typically comes up in one of two ways: (1) someone looking to purchase a gift for a fountain pen enthusiast; and (2) a fountain pen enthusiast looking to get someone into fountain pens by gifting them a relatively expensive fountain pen. Both, in my opinion, are bad ideas. As to the first point, fountain pen fans have very specific preferences, and unless they’ve requested a specific pen or you understand their preferences extremely well, you risk spending money on something that turns out to be a miss. On the second point, if you want to get someone a nice pen because you think they will use it every day, go with a rollerball or ballpoint. If you truly think someone might enjoy a fountain pen, either choose an inexpensive cartridge pen like a Platinum Plaisir or Prefounte, Pilot Explorer, or TWSBI Swipe, or give them a gift card to a brick-and-mortar retailer near them and let them try pens in person first. It comes down to personal preference - different pens work for different people, and with new users it’s almost impossible to predict what they will like.

2. Pen and Pencil Sets. The picture above is roughly half the Cross Century and Century II pens and pencils in my possession. Between 1970 and 2000, literally everyone alive in the United States received one of these sets from a relative as a “milestone” gift (birthday, graduation, etc.). In my family, they have all been re-gifted to me over the years “because you like pens so much.” While they are classy looking, and Cross has done a great job of marketing these sets as a classic gift option, there are better options out there (including from Cross - try the Townsend, which features a similar silhouette in a more modern, comfortable size). The ultra-slim Century, the still-slim Century II, and the countless clones from other brands, can be too narrow for many people to use other than for quick notes, and modern pen enthusiasts tend to prefer larger pens.

3. Ostentatious Engravings. If you want to engrave a pen for someone, limit yourself to initials. Messages that are too personal make it hard for someone to use a nice pen in a work meeting, since engravings tend to be eye-catching. Finally, DO NOT engrave pens with things like childhood nicknames. (Yes, I still have it. No, the pen will never see the light of day.)

4. Dated Planner Systems. Planner and notebook systems are not bad gifts per se, but not everyone uses planners, and some people prefer undated over dated. (The “personal preference” thing rears its head again.) I might recommend gifting a notebook cover and some blank refills, and pairing with a gift card so that they can choose to add planner functionality later.

5. Colored Sharpie Markers. Especially for a child. I mean, seriously? You know who you are, and yes, you are still banned from our home until we replace the rest of the furniture.

The Gentleman Stationer is supported by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program. For a more serious discussion of stationery-related gift ideas, please check out our gift guide, as mentioned above, or come see us in-person! We’re open this week Thursday-Sunday, and otherwise by appointment.