Wykehams A5 Executive Notebook

If you’re thinking “Who are Wykehams?” you are not alone; I wondered the same thing as I looked at their notebook on Amazon; so, I wrote to them and asked them, and George wrote back. 

It turns out that they are a very young family run company, founded last year and they are based in the Winchester area designing premium stationery currently across three ranges: Executive, Scholar & Creative which are sold through Amazon.

The Executive range includes A4 & A5 lined notebooks and diaries, the Scholar range is coming soon, and the Creative range currently consists of sketch books with the promise of more to come.

I bought an A5 Executive notebook in red, normally I would opt for black but this time I just fancied a change. The notebook arrives in a cardboard presentation box with the company logo on it; I’m glad mine did come in a box as it had not been handled with care whilst it was in Amazon’s care. The box was damaged and the seals that hold the lid on were damaged and in two cases detached. Happily, the notebook was unscathed.

 

When you open the box you will find a piece of black tissue paper and black A6 card thanking you for purchasing the notebook and telling you a little bit about the company. The notebook itself is covered with a good quality synthetic material in a deep red and on the front cover near the top edge all it says is ‘Notes’ and on the back at the bottom centre is a discreet company logo, both in gold. It is held shut with an elastic closure and has a red silk ribbon page marker peeking out of the lower edge of the notebook.

At a first glance you might just pass this notebook by but then, like me, you’ll take a second look and realise you might just be looking at something very special with its discreet title and logo it is reminiscent of old fashioned notebooks that don’t shout about things but you know when you have one that what you have is a quality piece of stationery. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When you open the notebook, you find a personal information page at the front and following this pages of light cream lined paper with approximately 9mm spacing. The paper is 100gsm stock from FSC certified sources and the notebook contains one hundred sheets equal to two hundred pages.

Look a little further and you will see this notebook is made up of stitched sections which appear to be book bound. What is different here is where most notebooks have a few perforated pages every page in this notebook is perforated for easy removal. I tested this and the page did come out easily. 

I did an ink test using Diamine Oxford Blue and whilst there was a little show through, which is to be expected with such a dark ink, it was nothing that would prevent you from using the reverse side of the page.

If there is one thing I would suggest Wykehams consider it would be adding a pocket to the rear cover; it’s not essential but in a high quality notebook I can see pitching against the likes of Dingbats this is definitely something to consider.

Overall this is a very nice understated notebook that would be suitable anywhere from the boardroom to the local coffee shop; it is obvious that a lot of thought has gone into this notebook. It’s built from excellent materials to an exacting standard; so, if you are looking for an alternative to the mainstream ranges currently on the shelves, I would urge you to consider this one. I have a (very) large pile of notebooks I’m slowly working through but this doesn’t stop me wanting to order another one of these; the only decision now is black or red.

Disclaimer: This notebook was purchased with my own funds at retail price. The opinions expressed in this review are my own; and I am not connected with either the retailers or manufacturers in any way.