Our first limited release for 2022 is the “Signs of Spring” Edition. Despite the weather in Chicago, and, well, everything else, we’re feeling a touch of optimism and anticipation at HQ lately.

WHO’S DE BOSS?

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 insidesare 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.

TO EVERY SEASON

The first shipment of a new Quarterly Subscription (or a subscription renewal) comes in a special shipping box, and starting with Spring, it will also include an exclusive Memo Book that matches the artwork from the box. Chicago artist Rene Arcao created a lino cut image for the 2022 version.

Subscribers will also receive access to a set of “Signs of Spring” digital wallpapers to brighten up any desktop, laptop, tablet, or phone. Active subscribers, check the mail that went out announcing the launch.

After your initial shipment you‘ll get the next three seasonal editions, their accompanying bonus items, and a year-long 10% discount on just about everything on our site. And don’t forget, USA shipping is free on all subscription shipments.

Subscribers are the heart of Field Notes. Your faith inspires us to be ambitious, and gives us the freedom to take chances with what we make next. Just wait, you’ll see.

4 × 12 + 2 = 50

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.”

FRIENDS IN LOW PLACES

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.

WHAT LIES BENEATH

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.

ONE OF A KIND, 99,999 TIMES

It’s December, and Field Notes HQ in Chicago hasn’t seen more than a few flurries yet, so let’s get Winter 2020 started with Field Notes Quarterly Edition, “Snowy Evening.”

We’ve limited this 49th Quarterly Edition to 33,333 3-Packs. Each Memo Book cover features a unique snowflake illustration rendered by our friend and co-conspirator, Brendan Dawes. Each snowflake is different, so every book is different, and so for the first time in a Quarterly Edition – we’ve individually numbered each book.

Inspired by the physics behind how ice crystals are formed in the atmosphere, Brendan crafted an algorithm that produced and rendered 99,999 lovely snowflake illustrations. (Read the whole story here). With the expertise of our partners at Lake County Press, the covers were printed over the course of five days on a next-generation digital press with white ink on “Deep Blue” Mohawk Carnival Vellum 80# cover. The Finch Opaque inside pages feature a special light-blue-gray dot-graph pattern. The books are bound with glossy white staples,and we don’t generally talk much about the “belly bands” that hold 3-Packs together, but this one is arguably our most handsome to date.

While creating this edition, it occurred to us that, like snowflakes, every Field Notes Memo Book is different. This time, that’s literally true. But what makes each book truly unique are the notes we write to ourselves on its 48 pages.

’TIS THE…
SEASONAL LIMITED EDITION

Now is the time to start a Field Notes subscription. You’ll get two 3-Packs of “Snowy Evening” (six unique snowflakes!) and then the Spring, Summer, and Fall 2021 Editions as they’re released. Spring will be our 50th Quarterly Release, an anniversary that deserves to be celebrated with something special for subscribers. Beyond Spring, things are hazy, but we can all agree that 2021 can’t come fast enough.

USA shipping is free for all four Quarterly Editions and active subscribers automagically save 10% on just about everything at our site. Click here for more details about subscriptions and to see our 48 previous releases.

Subscriptions make great gifts too. Just a couple clicks and then four times during the year, they’ll remember just how awesome you are.