Notebook
The earliest form of notebook was the wax tablet, which was used as a reusable and portable writing surface in classical antiquity and throughout the Middle Ages.
At this time, however, it appears that the concept of an erasable notebook was still something of a novelty to the British public, as the printed instructions included with some books were headed:[1] "To make clean your Tables when they be written on, which to some as yet is unknown."
[4] The coating was made from a mixture of glue and gesso, and modern-day experiments have shown that ink, graphite and silverpoint writing can be easily erased from the treated pages with the application of a wet sponge or fingertip.
[1] Other types of notebook may also have been in circulation during this time; 17th-century writer Samuel Hartlib describes a table-book made of slate, which did "not need such tedious wiping out by spunges or cloutes".
[6] The leaves of a table-book could be written upon with a stylus, which added to their convenience, as it meant that impromptu notes could be taken without the need for an inkwell (graphite pencils were not in common use until the late 17th century).
Tables were also used for collecting pieces of poetry, noteworthy epigrams, and new words; recording sermons, legal proceedings, or parliamentary debates; jotting down conversations, recipes, cures, and jokes; keeping financial records; recalling addresses and meetings; and collecting notes on foreign customs while travelling.The use of table-books for trivial purposes was often satirized on the English stage.
For example, Antonio's Revenge by John Marston (c. 1600) contains the following exchange:[7][8] Matzagente: I scorn to retort the obtuse jest of a fool.
Their use in some contexts was seen as pretentious; Joseph Hall, writing in 1608, describes "the hypocrite" as one who, "in the midst of the sermon pulls out his tables in haste, as if he feared to lose that note".
[1] By the early 19th century, there was far less demand for erasable notebooks, due to the mass-production of fountain pens and the development of cheaper methods for manufacturing paper.
In about 1900, the latter then evolved into the modern, traditionally yellow legal pad when a local judge requested for a margin to be drawn on the left side of the paper.
[11] The only technical requirement for this type of stationery to be considered a true "legal pad" is that it must have margins of 1.25 inches (3.17 centimeters) from the left edge.
[13][14] Principal types of binding are padding, perfect, spiral, comb, sewn, clasp, disc, and pressure, some of which can be combined.
It is frequently cheaper to purchase notebooks that are spiral-bound, meaning that a spiral of wire is looped through large perforations at the top or side of the page.
Since the late 20th century, many attempts have been made to integrate the simplicity of a notebook with the editing, searching, and communication capacities of computers through the development of note taking software.
Personal digital assistants (PDAs) came next, integrating small liquid crystal displays with a touch-sensitive layer to input graphics and written text.
By printing an invisible dot pattern on the notebook paper and using a pen with a built in infrared camera the written text can be transferred to a laptop, mobile phone or back office for storage and processing.
