Started: [[2025-01-14]] Finisher: [[2025-01-27]] ## Further reading - Finance in Italy. Especially about the three 'super-companies' of Bardi, Peruzzi and Acciaivoli (P35) ## Notes ### Introduction The modern [[Moleskine]] came about in the [[1990s]]. In [[1995]] Maria Sebregondi, a translator of books into Italian, was on a boat with Francesco Franceschi, whose company Moro & Modo sold designer gifts. He felt his profit margins were low, as they didn’t manufacture products themselves. They spent hours thinking about a product they would manufacture themselves. But they never came up with one. Months later Sebregondi read a book that referenced a moleskine notebook made in Paris that wasn’t made anymore. She looked into it. It was true. And it had pedigree. [[Matisse]], [[Picasso]] and [[Hemingway]] had used one. The rest is history. (P9-13) --- The corners of a Moleskine are curved. This adds significant cost. But it also stops the pages getting dog-eared. (P13) --- ### 1. Before Notebooks. The Mediterranean 1000 BCE – 1250 CE The earliest example of what we would recognise as a notebook is from a shipwreck. The Ulu Burun shipwreck is the oldest one ever discovered. It went down about [[1305 BC]]. It carried goods from a remarkable ten other cultures. And one thing it had was two pieces of wood, put together with a hinge. One each side of the wood was recess. Wax would be poured into the recess and a stylus could be used to write. Then when you were done with it, or wanted to write more, you would wipe the wax down to make it flat again. --- > “Men could aspire to the literary life, but their companions – Muses or women betrayed as Muses – could only aspire to inspire it. – Elizabeth Mayer (P24) --- [[Codex]] = created by the [[Romans]]. It was [[papyrus]], folded within a protective parchment cover. [[Parchment]] is made from animal hides. (P25) --- The [[Muslims]] embraces [[paper]]. The [[Christians]] didn't. If only because it was popular with and made my Muslims. [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor]] decreed parchment was the only material official documents could be written on. Paper helped the Muslim world flourish. (P26-27) --- In 1300s Europe, 15% annual [[interest]] was fairly standard (P31) --- The Greeks, Arabs and Chinese, for all their sophistication in money only tracked cash and inventory. [[Accounting]] in Europe by the 1300s was more advanced. [[Double-entry bookkeeping]], [[deprecation]], profit margins and many other 'modern' accounting practise were being used (P30-35) --- [[Double-entry bookkeeping]] lets you see the individual profit figures for each line of business or venture. This helped [[merchants]] in the 1300s Europe to understand their businesses better. (P35) --- How did [[Florence]] become one of Europes most important cities? It had many disadvantages: no army, small population, no technological advances, poor farmland, and no direct access to the sea. Well, it turned those disadvantages into advantages. It posed no threat to other countries (due to its small size), so its citizens could move fairly freely. As it had little arable land it had to strike deals with others to feed its population. There was no strong hereditary ruler, which allowed a more pluralist political system that respected guild membership and civic activity more than noble birth. They also were the first to mint a reliable cold coin: the florin. And they ran long distance finance networks, moving money for the church. Which gave them access to large sums of capital. (P36) --- A skilled parchment makers could make 8-16 pages a day. By contract, a paper maker could make 2000-3000 pages a day. (P38-39) --- When a new major painting by [[Botticelli]], [[Michelangelo]], or [[Leonardo da Vinci]] it was completed in Florence it was paraded through the streets whilst crowds cheered, prayed and banged drums. --- ## New words - Pluralist - (politics) belief that different types of people, beliefs and opinions within a society is a good thing.