Field Notes Winter 2025 special release, the “1943” Limited Edition was inspired by the Armed Service Editions, including three unique “Two-Way” Memo Books. 

In 1943, the U.S. government and the American publishing industry collaborated to create what came to be known as the “Armed Services Editions.” Over the next few years, more than 120 million books representing over 1,200 titles were printed and distributed to overseas troops during the Second World War. The books were printed in an odd horizontal format with bright, primary-coloured covers.

The “1943” Memo Books were created to mimic the ASE’s horizontal orientation. While they’re our usual 5.5" x 3.5" Memo Book size, they’re the first with two staples on the short side instead of three on the long side. But while mocking up prototypes, we realized the short-edge binding also works great for a vertical notebook! So it’s up to you, there’s a horizontal cover on one side, and a vertical cover on the other. Whether you want to flip the top of your Field Notes open to take notes as you interview a witness, or spread the pages wide for a panoramic sketch of a crime scene, the 1943 “Two-Way” Edition is the right tool for your investigation.

You’ll find bright red, yellow, and blue books in each 3-Pack. Covers are printed on sturdy Westrock Tango 12pt coated-one-side cover stock. The body of the book is 60# Domtar Cougar “Natural” (very popular in last winter‘s sold-out “Vintage” Edition), with an “Aged Newsprint” 3/16" graph grid.

• Cover: West Rock Tango 12pt C1S “White,” with a thick, brute force, 4-color application of “1943 Magazine Press Primaries” soy-based Superior inks.
• Innards: Domtar Cougar 60#T “Natural,” with a 1-color application of “Aged Newsprint” soy-based Superior ink.
• Cover and innards printed on a Heidelberg Speedmaster CD 102S six-color printing press.
• Bound with a Muller Martini 6-pocket saddle stitcher with cover feeder/scorer, with appreciation to Samuel Slocum, George W. McGill, and William J. Brown, the “Founding Fathers of the Staple.”
• Corners precisely rounded to a 3/8" (9.5mm) radius with a Challenge DCM double round-corner machine.
• Graph grid ruling: 3/16" × 3/16" (4.7mm × 4.7mm).
• Memo book dimensions are 5-1/2" × 3-1/2" (140mm × 89mm).
• FIELD NOTES uses only the Futura typeface family (Paul Renner, 1927), in collaboration with Monotype.
• Printed by The Graphic Arts Studio, LLC, Barrington, Ill. and manufactured in the U.S.A.
• Limited Edition of 25,000 3-Packs.
• SKUs & UPCs: 1943 3-Pack FNC-69 850032279437