G. Lalo – Vergé de France

Writing Pad Review

This is another review by contributor Dave Hassar. Dave is a product photographer by day, sci-fi, and fountain pen nerd by night. You can follow his Instagram account here for some excellent fountain pen, paper, food, and commercial photography shots. To read more reviews by Dave, click his author page next to the little pencil icon above!

Specs:

• 100gsm Blank (with subtle lined texture) paper
• A5 or A4 in 50 sheet tablets, glued top edge
• Available in a variety of colours as well

Review Supplies:
Franklin Christoph Model 66 – Medium S.I.G
Diamine Marine

What is it?

A tablet of finely lined paper in the traditional laid paper style. Available in a number of sizes and colours. This is a wonderful paper to add some tactility to your letters with a nice gram weight, and a nice subtle texture.

Notes

As I started getting in to letter writing I wanted to find an A5 sized paper that was fountain pen friendly, and different than the usual papers I was using and receiving. Poking around online I came across G. Lalo. They are a French stationery brand founded in 1920, who have a range of stationery products in their current line.

One product in particular caught my attention. Their Verge de France style of paper has horizontal rows of textured lines that provide a tactile experience for both the writer and the reader. The paper is 100gsm and comes in a tablet of 50 sheets in a range of colours from white to cream as well as blue, green, and yellow. Wonder Pens, where I purchased mine only carries the white and ivory options. Personally I elected for the white option, which is not a bright white, and actually I had to check to make sure it wasn’t the ivory or cream before writing this review.

This is a paper that will grab the readers’ attention. I’ve received multiple responses from people who I have sent letters on this paper who were very much intrigued by both the nice weight of the page and of course, the texture.

I was slightly concerned when I got it that my nibs would be catching on the paper, especially since my preferred nib is an extra-fine. I was very happy to find out that even my extra-fine vanishing point performs quite well, and I’ve had very few instances of the nib catching one of the ridges and disrupting my writing. There’s a few points where the ink doesn’t go down completely smooth as the nib rides over the texture but I think it’d adds to the look and feel of your writing.

The other thing that impressed me with this paper is how well it can handle sheening inks. I was not expecting much as the paper feels uncoated and fairly absorbent but Krishna Moonview (which is my crazy sheen ink) does display a nice amount of it’s sheening on the page. Of course it is not as evident as something like Tomoé River or Rhodia, but it does sheen.

Being a 100gsm paper there is not see through and no bleed through. Like I mentioned the paper doesn’t feel coated so I wouldn’t have been surprised with some feathering with some inks as well but it has held up very well so far to everything I’ve thrown at it.

If you’re looking for a paper to add some interest to your letters or notes and are not tied to a glassy writing experience you should definitely consider the G. Lalo Vergé de France for your next stationery purchase. I’ve loved writing letter on it and even thought I may have to buy another tablet for this review so I wasn’t shooting the last few sheets!

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