Buying a notebook online takes four clicks. Finding the right one — the one that opens flat, swallows fountain pen ink without feathering, and doesn't look like every other notebook on your desk — usually takes a Saturday. Britain is still full of places where that search is a pleasure rather than a transaction: indoor market halls with a stall of loose nibs, charity shops where a leather-bound ledger sits between paperback thrillers, and independent stationers whose owners will happily explain paper weights to a stranger. The trick is knowing where to look and what to check before you hand over your money.

Start with the independent stationers

These shops are the backbone of a good stationery habit. They tend to survive near universities, in cathedral towns and inside Victorian arcades — the sort of places where a small shop can pay its rent on loyalty rather than footfall. Walk in and look for three things: depth of stock, a test pad on the counter, and staff who use the products themselves.

A good stationer will let you try your own pen on a sample sheet. That single courtesy tells you more about a shop than any display. If they keep loose paper in A4 and A5, sell refills for the pens they stock, and can name the maker of a notebook's binding, you have found somewhere worth returning to.

Questions worth asking at the counter

• Is this paper sized for fountain pen ink, or is it general-purpose?
• Do you sell this notebook in a sewn binding as well as the glued version?
• Can you order a refill, or is this a one-off line?
• Do you keep old stock of discontinued nibs or ink colours anywhere out the back?

That last question is not as odd as it sounds. Small shops often hold a box of things that never sold, and a discontinued ink or a spare converter can be worth the ask.

What markets actually reward

Street markets, antique fairs and indoor market halls sell stationery in a strange, sideways way. It rarely appears as its own stall. Instead it turns up on the house-clearance table, in the tool dealer's box of drafting instruments, beside a stamp collection, or on the craft stall that mostly sells candles.

Arrive early for the stalls, but not necessarily for the prices. Early gives you first pick of the boxes that get tipped out at seven in the morning. Late gives you sellers who would rather not carry anything home. Both are useful; decide which you want before you set off.

Scan low and scan slowly. The good items are rarely at eye level. Look for:

• Old drafting sets — compasses, dividers, protractors — often complete in a velvet-lined tin.
• Boxed letter sets and writing cases, especially with the original blotter still inside.
• Loose paper: watermarked sheets, onion-skin, graph pads, unused ledger paper.
• Rubber stamps, wax and seals, and the small brass tools that go with them.
• School exercise books and older hardback notebooks with stitched spines.

Charity shops: a slower, cheaper hunt

Charity shops restock constantly and price kindly, but they are unpredictable. A shop that had nothing on Tuesday can be full of boxed pens on Thursday, so it pays to build a short circuit of four or five shops and walk it every few weeks rather than treating any single visit as the test.

Ask when deliveries arrive. Most shops process donations on particular mornings, and staff are usually happy to tell you. Then look past the obvious shelves: the bric-a-brac corner, the box under the till, the basket of pens that nobody has sorted.

Checking before you pay

• Count the pieces. Boxed sets are frequently missing a nib, a converter or a bottle.
• Check for rust on clips and springs, and for ink crusted around a nib.
• Look for foxing — small brown spots on paper — and for wavy, damp-stained pages.
• Rubber bands and elastic closures perish. Assume they have.
• Sniff the paper. A musty smell usually means it has been stored badly.

Assume any fountain pen you buy second-hand needs cleaning at the very least, and possibly a new ink sac. That is a small repair, not a reason to walk away — but it should shape what you are willing to pay.

Car boot sales: cash, patience and a good eye

Car boot sales reward an early start, small change and a willingness to chat. Sellers who deal in house clearances often have a box of desk items they have not looked through. Ask directly: "Any pens, paper or old office bits?" Nine times out of ten the answer is no. The tenth time, someone lifts a lid.

Go with cash in small notes and coins, carry a tote rather than a handbag, and wear shoes that can handle a muddy field. Haggling is expected, especially on bundles — three notebooks and a pen stand are easier to negotiate as one purchase than as three. Be fair, be quick, and never open a sealed box without asking first.

Test paper and pens on the spot

Paper behaves differently depending on the ink. Carry a small testing kit and you will never buy a notebook you resent:

1. A fountain pen filled with a wet, saturated ink — the harshest test you own.
2. A fineliner and a pencil, for show-through and erasing quality.
3. A scrap of good paper to compare against.
4. A small notebook to log what you buy and where.

Write in a corner, not across the middle. Watch for feathering, where ink spreads along paper fibres, and bleed-through, where it reaches the reverse side. Show-through — faint ghosting visible from behind — is normal on thinner paper and not a fault. For notebooks, check the spine: sewn bindings lie flatter and last longer than glued ones, and a tight gutter will make the left-hand page awkward to write on.

Plan a route and keep a list

The most productive approach is a loop rather than a mission. Pick one indoor market, two or three charity shops on the same high street and one independent stationer, and walk them in that order on a weekday if you can. Save the car boot for a dry Sunday morning. Check opening hours first: small shops keep strange ones, and a wasted bus journey sours the whole habit.

Keep a running list of what you are actually hunting for — a particular nib width, a refillable planner, good A5 paper for letters — and set a rough budget before you leave the house. Buy only what you will use within the year. Stationery accumulates faster than anyone admits, and the pleasure of a good shop comes from finding the right thing, not from carrying home everything that caught your eye.

Photo: chriswanders / Pixabay