Nashville’s legendary letterpress print shop was founded by the brothers Hatch in 1879 and remains the living heartbeat of classic American poster design. Since the early days of our Quarterly Editions, we knew that to explore the history of American printing, publishing and and design, we were going to have to collaborate with Hatch Show Print.

Hatch is known for letterpress-printed posters. For many years, they’ve found ways to recombine their enormous archive of historic images and type in ways that always seem fresh and vibrant, but also timeless. Hatch makes large posters. We make small notebooks. Here’s how we worked together:

We imagined a three-poster public service campaign about effective poster design, which we named Pressing Issues: A Series on Ink, Paper, and Muscle. We wrote some copy and made a couple of really rough sketches and the left it to the crew at Hatch to design and print.

And. They. Killed. It.

Next, we cut up the three finished posters into covers for our Fall Memo Books. Each poster yielded six covers, and we included one book from each poster in the 3-Packs. As a result of that, and the natural variations in letterpress printing, there’s a ton of variety in the run.

The covers are on Domtar Cougar 100-lb white cover stock with a brute-force application of a variety of hand-mixed Kennedy oil-based inks, including “Just About Pantone 637.” The body pages are ruled in light blue on a smooth 60-lb text stock from Finch.

Size: 3 1/2" x 5 1/2"

• Proudly printed by the good people of Hatch Show Print, Nashville, Tenn., and Team Concept Printing, Carol Stream, Ill.
• Cover: Domtar Cougar 100#C “White” with a brute-force application of a variety of hand-mixed Kennedy oil-based inks, including “Just About Pantone 637.”
• Innards: Finch Opaque Smooth 60#T “Bright White,” with a fine, 1-color application of “Actual Pantone 635” soy-based Toyo ink.
• Outer cover printed over 32 hours at Hatch Show Print by Cory Wasnewsky with support from Nick Larson, in two passes on a 1942 Miehle 29 sheetfed press.
• Inner cover/innards printed on a Komori GL 640L 40" 6-color UV offset press.
• Bound with a Horizon SPF-200L “Bookletmaker” stitcher with dual feeder towers.
• Corners precisely rounded to a 3/8" (9.5mm) radius with a Challenge DCM double round-corner machine.
• Ruled lines: 1/4" (6.4mm).
• Memo book dimensions are 3-1/2" × 5-1/2" (89mm × 140mm).
• FIELD NOTES uses only the Futura typeface family (Paul Renner, 1927) in its materials.
• All FIELD NOTES memo books are printed and manufactured in the U.S.A.

Jump into six quadrillion gallons of fresh water with Field Notes’ Summer 2022 Quarterly Edition. “The Great Lakes” set of five Memo Books celebrates Lakes Michigan, Superior, Huron, Erie, and Ontario. Indigenous peoples’ deep knowledge of these five glacier-carved lakes served them well for for agri­culture, hunting, and trade. Today, the Great Lakes continue to connect Midwestern manufacturing towns to the rest of the world. These waterways have brought people together for thousands of years. If you grew up around Marquette, Manitowoc, Mentor, or Mississauga, the Great Lakes are your frame of reference, and anywhere in the region feels like home.

Our Chicago HQ sits just a couple miles from Lake Michigan, so a Great Lakes set has been on our minds for years. Neenah’s vibrant Cobalt Techweave cover stock gave us inspiration for the isometric triangle rendering of the lakes found on the covers, with each book’s featured lake highlighted in silver ink.

The inside pages feature a light-gray graph, with a fold-out spread in the back of each book featuring a map of each lake’s cities, landmarks, depths, shipwrecks, ferries, and more. You’ll also find a few paragraphs about each lake’s history, lore, and aquatic life, plus a full page of geological data.

Size: 3 1/2" x 5 1/2"

• Proudly printed by the good people of Lake County Press, Inc., Waukegan, Ill. 02. Cover: Neenah Classic Techweave 80#C “Cobalt” (subscriber bonus book is "Charcoal") with a thick, brute force, 2-color application of “Superior Silver” and "Charcoal" soy-based Toyo UV inks.
• Innards: Veritiv Starbrite Opaque Select 70#T “White,” with a fine, 1-color application of “Made-of-Mist Gray” soy-based Toyo ink.
• Cover and innards printed on a Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 105 40" 6-color UV printing press.
• Bound with a Heidelberg Stitchmaster ST 270 5-pocket saddle stitcher with cover feeder/scorer and Rima RS 10S in-line stacker, with appreciation to Samuel Slocum, George W. McGill, and William J. Brown, the “Founding Fathers of the Staple.”
• Corners precisely rounded to a 3/8" (9.5mm) radius with a Challenge DCM double round-corner machine.
• Graph grid: 3/16" × 3/16" (4.7mm × 4.7mm).
• Memo book dimensions are 3-1/2" × 5-1/2" (89mm × 140mm).
• FIELD NOTES uses only the Futura typeface family (Paul Renner, 1927) in its materials.
• All FIELD NOTES memo books are printed and manufactured in the U.S.A.

We wanted to produce something bright and warm for this edition, and to do that we focused on the papers. It all started when we located a batch of Mohawk Via Vellum 80# “Yellow,” a stock we have always loved but never found the right project for, until now. In our estimation, the finish and structure of this paper was absolutely made for embossing and debossing. While we’ve experimented with that in the past, we’ve really pushed the limits here.

The covers are heavily debossed all over, with three original graphic patterns based on flowers that are among the very first to appear in the North American Spring each year: the Ghost Flower (Mohavea confertiflora) in the Southwest, Quaker Ladies (Houstonia caerulea) in the East, and Contra Costa Goldfields (Lasthenia conjugens) in the San Francisco Bay area. Then the covers were hot-stamped with three luscious, reflective Kurz Luxor Foils.

A first for us, the dot-graph insides are made from Strathmore’s Cambric 70# text, a truly superb paper. The subtle, linen-like texture gives it a ton of character and we think writers and artists are really going to love it.

Size: 3 1/2" x 5 1/2"

• Proudly printed by the good people of Active Graphic, Cicero, Ill.
• Cover: Mohawk Via Vellum 80#C “Yellow,” debossed and hot-stamped with Kurz Luxor 361 foil on a Bobst SP102 BMA Foilmaster by LPI, New Berlin, Wisc.
• Innards: Strathmore Cambric 70#T “Ultimate White,” with a fine, 1-color application of “Yellow Crocus” soy-based Saphira ink.
• Cover and innards printed on a Komori Lithrone S40 40" 6-color offset printing press.
• Bound with a Heidelberg Stitchmaster ST 270 5-pocket saddle stitcher with cover feeder/scorer and Rima RS 10S in-line stacker, with appreciation to Samuel Slocum, George W. McGill, and William J. Brown, the “Founding Fathers of the Staple.”
• Corners precisely rounded to a 3/8" (9.5mm) radius with a Challenge SCM round-corner machine at Phoenix Binding, Itasca, Ill.
• Dot-Graph grid: 3/16" × 3/16" (4.7mm × 4.7mm).
• Memo book dimensions are 3-1/2" × 5-1/2" (89mm × 140mm).
• FIELD NOTES uses only the Futura typeface family (Paul Renner, 1927) in its materials.
• All FIELD NOTES memo books are printed and manufactured in the U.S.A.

We all need a place to jot down the first sparks of a big new idea, to record our “notes to self,” and to remind ourselves to pick up the doggo at 4 p.m. on Thursday. Our regular Field Notes Planner is great, but we’re frequently asked for a smaller edition. Our previous limited-edition pocket planners (the long-gone Ambition and Resolution editions) were also great, but we wanted to find a way to fit even more into a Memo-sized date book.

You’ll find that the new Winter 2021 “Ignition” set checks all the boxes. Each 3-Pack contains two 26-Week Planners. Splitting the year into two books gives you a full spread for each week, making more space for each day and incorporating a weekly “To do, or…” list that can be used for productivity OR inspiration. Each page also features a bit of practical advice, direct from Field Notes staff. Note that the pages are undated, allowing you to start either book anytime and fill in the dates as you go.

The third book is a “Checklist Journal” featuring the popular “Screwhead Device” that we introduced in the 2017 “Resolution” Edition. it's great for to-do lists or bullet journaling… or ignore the Screwheads, and use it like any ruled notebook.

The covers are made from water-and-tear-proof synthetic paper from Yupo that will hold up to a whole year’s worth of abuse. The book’s interior page design is subtly varnished over the cover color. The innards are our reliable 60# Finch with gray rules, bound with black staples.

Size: 3 1/2" x 5 1/2"

• Proudly printed by the good people of Lake County Press, Inc., Waukegan, Ill.
• Cover: Yupo Synthetic 74#C “White,” with a brute force application of “Ignition Gray, Yellow, and Black” soy-based Toyo UV inks and a spot UV varnish.
• Innards: Finch Paper Opaque Smooth 60#T “Bright White,” with a fine, 1-color application of “Ignition Light Gray” soy-based Toyo ink.
• Cover and innards printed on a Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 105 40" 6-color UV printing press.
• Bound with a Heidelberg Stitchmaster ST 270 5-pocket saddle stitcher with cover feeder/scorer and Rima RS 10S in-line stacker, with appreciation to Samuel Slocum, George W. McGill, and William J. Brown, the “Founding Fathers of the Staple.”
• Corners precisely rounded to a 3/8" (9.5mm) radius with a Challenge DCM double round-corner machine.
• Edition features two 26-Week Date Books and one 56-Page Checklist Journal.
• Memo book dimensions are 3-1/2" × 5-1/2" (89mm × 140mm).
• FIELD NOTES uses only the Futura typeface family (Paul Renner, 1927) in its materials.
• All FIELD NOTES memo books are printed and manufactured in the U.S.A.

It’s funny how things work out sometimes. Robert Macfarlane’s “Underland: A Deep Time Journey” was Jim’s favorite book of 2019, and it was Stanley Donwood’s glorious painting “Nether,” which illustrates the book’s cover, that first drew Jim to it in a local bookshop. Robert wrote a piece on the Penguin site about writing the book and specifically about the notebooks he kept while doing research, and it turns out, many of those journals were Field Notes.

With a quick email exchange, a swap of a signed copy of the book for a box of Field Notes was arranged. Fast forward to the publication of the paperback of “Underland” and it seemed natural to produce an Underland Field Notes collaboration. We’re proud to say that this limited edition is available now. Even if you’re not planning a trip to the catacombs under Paris, or the “starless rivers” that flow below the limestone in north-west Italy, we hope you’ll find these useful to record your own adventures.

Robert Macfarlane, is a much awarded author, known for his books on landscape, science, place, and language. His latest, “Underland,” explores the subterranean world including a nuclear waste facility in Finland, ancient burial tombs under Somerset, England, the Paris catacombs, and a laboratory buried deep under the UK where scientists study sub-atomic particles and the origins of the universe. The Guardian called “Underland,” “one of the most ambitious works of narrative non-fiction of our age,” and it is now available in paperback.

Stanley Donwood is best known for creating the artwork and album covers for Radiohead since 1994. A prolific painter and designer, Donwood’s “Nether” is featured on the cover of “Underland,” and on our limited-edition 3-Pack. Macfarlane and Donwood also published “Ness,” a beautifully illustrated prose poem about a specific place and its (and our) history.

Our latest Quarterly Edition commemorates the forty-nine preceding releases in our ongoing series that started with designing “Butcher Orange” way back in 2008. We’ve gone back to basics for the 3-Packs. Simple, beautiful, “Red Hot” French Paper Co. covers with silver metallic ink, surrounding 48 pages of silver Graph Grid. Metallic ink on a colored cover first appeared in our 5th release in 2009, “Just Below Zero,” and has made an appearance here and there since then.

We’ve used a lot of French Paper over the years but surprisingly this is our first use of Pop-Tone “Red Hot” stock. The books also feature an almost-blank flyleaf, with a Futura “50” peeking through a die-cut circle. Each 3-Pack contains three different flyleaf colors recalling a specific Quarterly Edition: Safety Orange from “Dime Novel,” Nightshift Blue from “End Papers,” and Gumdrop Green from “Grass Stain Green.”

In creating this set, we’ve been thinking a lot about all the editions that came before it, and what — if anything — we can conclude from this anniversary. Jim took a stab at it in his essay, “Counting to Fifty.”

Size: 3 1/2" x 5 1/2"

Ruling: Graph

• Proudly printed by the good people of Lake County Press, Inc., Waukegan, Ill.
• Memo Book Covers: French Pop-Tone 100#C “Red Hot,” with a thick, brute force, 1-color application of “Walking Liberty Silver” soy-based Toyo UV ink. 
• Memo Book Flyleaves: French 70#T “Nightshift Blue,” “Safety Orange,” or “Gumdrop Green.”
• Anniversary Desk Ledger first signature: French Paper Company Pop-Tone 100#C “Red Hot.” Body: Pop-Tone 70#T “Hot Fudge,” Pop-Tone 70#T “Pink Lemonade,” Construction 70#T “Nightshift Blue,” Construction 70#T “Safety Orange,” Pop-Tone 70#T “Gumdrop Green” printed with a thick, brute force application of “Dachshund Nose Black” and “Walking Liberty Silver” soy-based Toyo UV inks. Last Signature: French Paper Company Dur-O-Tone 70#T “Packing Brown Wrap,” printed with a thick, brute force 5-color application of white and process-color soy-based Toyo UV inks.
• Memo Book and Anniversary Desk Ledger Innards: Finch Paper Opaque Smooth 60#T “Bright White,” with a fine, 1-color application of “New Friends Silver” soy-based Toyo ink.
• Memo Book and Anniversary Desk Ledger covers, flyleaves, and innards printed on a Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 105 40" 6-color UV printing press.
• Memo Book bound with a Heidelberg Stitchmaster ST 270 5-pocket saddle stitcher with cover feeder/scorer and Rima RS 10S in-line stacker at Lake County Press, Waukegan, Ill. Anniversary Desk Ledger hand-assembled and bound with American & Efird Tex 40 D-Core 32187 thread on an Aster sewing machine and Kolbus KM600 binder at Reindl Bindery, Germantown, Wisc. 
• Memo Book Corners precisely rounded to a 3/8" (9.5mm) radius. Anniversary Desk Ledger corners rounded to a 3/8" (9.5mm) radius with a Challenge DCM double round-corner machine.
• Memo Book Graph grid: 3/16" × 3/16" (4.7mm × 4.7mm). Anniversary Desk Ledger Dot-Graph Grid: 3/16"× 3/16" (4.7mm × 4.7mm).
• Memo book dimensions are 3-1/2" × 5-1/2" (89mm × 140mm). Anniversary Desk Ledger dimensions are 9" × 5–1/2" (228mm × 140mm).
• FIELD NOTES uses only the Futura typeface family (Paul Renner, 1927) in its materials.
• All FIELD NOTES memo books are printed and manufactured in the U.S.A.

This Game Master Journal is the perfect companion for the big-picture world-building that so many GMs strive for. Whether using official sourcebooks or homebrewing your own lands for your party to explore, the Game Master Journal is a book no GM should be without.

Inside each Game Master Journal you’ll find empty charts, tables, hex grids, and spaces for logging the following campaign information:

• Campaign Name / Players
• Inspirations
• House Rules
• World Overview / Principles
• Core Assumptions / Genres
• Multiverse
• Major Pantheon / Minor Pantheon
• Calendar
• Maps / Kingdoms / Settlements / Locations
• Key NPCs / Secondary NPCs
• Player Characters
• Major Factions / Minor Factions
• Key Monsters
• Key Magic Items
• Artifacts
• Downtime Activities Underway
• Milestone / XP Awards
• Adventures
• Random Tables

Hail, and well met, adventurer!

Field Notes presents thee with the 5E Character Journal, a handsome tome for the fifth edition of “the world’s greatest roleplaying game,” Dungeons & Dragons. It is specifically designed to help you track your D&D character’s statistics, spells, weapons, treasure, history, and more. The 64 pages feature room for all data normally found on a character sheet, and more, including plenty of space to document your adventure level by level.*

Field Notes quality, Dungeon-tested
Each 2-Pack includes two “Note Book”-sized Character Journals, 4-3/4" x 7-1/2", with blood-red French Paper Co “Construction” 100# covers featuring handy data, tables, and diagrams for reference.

The body pages are beefy Domtar Lynx Ultra Smooth 70# text with clear-but-subtle light brown print.

The pages contain fields for game information, character data, and level-by-level notes.

And hey, if you’re inclined to roll your d20 late into the evening, you’ll probably also want some graph paper to go along with your Character Journals. 

* Again, to be clear, these are not blank note books, they are specifically formatted for 5E fantasy roleplaying.

The Quarterly release for the Spring of 2020 is the “Vignette” Edition. The Graph Paper Memo Books in these 3-Packs feature a clever die-cut pocket that allows you to include your own image — any image — as an integrated part of the cover design. We’ve noticed how people customize their Field Notes covers with a sticker, title, sketch, or stamp, so the “Vignette” Edition makes that sort of personalization quick and easy, resulting in a very slick finished product.

• 3 1/2" × 5 1/2"
• Graph

The "Pitch Black" dot-graph Field Notes Memo Book was introduced in 2013, and it quickly became one of Field Notes' most popular memo books. After a few reprents, Pitch Black books are now offered with a variety of options. Duplex covers, two sizes, and two paper line types!

• Dot Grid 
• 3-1/2" x 5-1/2"

7" Carpenter Pencils fit nicely in your coverall pocket or behind most ears, and won't roll away while you work. Three FSC-certified natural wood pencils with black type.

Lacquer-free renewable wood casing, recyclable aluminum ferrule, enviro-green degradable eraser and certified non-toxic imprint inks. 6/pk

The "Pitch Black" dot-graph Field Notes Memo Book was introduced in 2013, and it quickly became one of Field Notes' most popular memo books. After a few reprints, Pitch Black books are now offered with a variety of options. Duplex covers, two sizes, and two paper line types!

The "Pitch Black" dot-graph Field Notes Memo Book was introduced in 2013, and it quickly became one of Field Notes' most popular memo books. After a few reprents, Pitch Black books are now offered with a variety of options. Duplex covers, two sizes, and two paper line types!