Book-cover sketchbooks
Fortællinger
100% cotton Hahnemühle Expression behind a Nobel laureate's cover, bought in Oslo.
1/7
1 435 SEK ≈ 129 € Free tracked shipping in Sweden and across Europe.
Description
The cover is volume one of Fortællinger by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson — the Norwegian who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1903 and wrote the words to Norway's national anthem. It was bought at Norlis Antikvariat on Universitetsgata in Oslo, in October 2026.
What it holds now is the best paper in the shop: Hahnemühle Expression, 300 g/m² (140 lb), cold press, 100% cotton, acid free, with the deckle edge torn by hand rather than guillotined. 30 sheets, hand-sewn and cased into the original boards. Cotton paper takes a heavy wash without cockling and lets you lift colour back off — it is the sheet you want when the sketch turns into a painting.
Product details
- Case bound · reclaimed book cover
- Page size 11.5 × 18 cm (open spread 23 × 18 cm)
- 60 pages (30 sheets) of 300 g/m² (140 lb) Hahnemühle Expression Watercolour Paper, cold press (fine grain)
- Paper is 100% cotton, acid free, hand-torn deckle edge
- Cover rescued from Fortællinger, vol. 1, by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Norwegian edition, found at Norlis Antikvariat in Oslo in October 2026
- One of a kind — a single piece, sewn by hand. There is no second one and no restock
This cover comes from a second-hand book that was already damaged inside. Expect honest wear on the boards — faded cloth, bumped corners, marks from decades of handling. None of it affects how the notebook works, and all of it is the reason the cover still exists.
Questions about this piece? Ask me anything before you buy.