The Weasley Jumper Notebooks

Following on from last week’s post, I’ve decided to continue the Harry Potter theme and review the latest stationery offering from Primark, notebooks named after Mrs Weasley’s famous jumpers.

Primark, for anyone not familiar with it is a large chain of clothing stores that specialises in low cost clothing, accessories et cetera. More importantly they stock an extensive range of Harry Potter merchandise at very reasonable prices; and the range changes regularly so there is always something new but a word of caution, if you see something you like buy it because when it’s gone it’s gone.

So, about two weeks ago I went into my local store to see what was new; I figured with ‘back to school aka stationery Christmas’ just around the corner the new stock should be starting to appear, and it was. 

There were lots of pens, pencil cases, a furry notebook (based on the Monster Book Of Monsters) and a new set of pocket notebooks and an A5 notebook. Liking the look of the pocket notebooks and the A5 I bought a couple of each, at £2.00GBP each they are a bargain.

Pocket Notebook Set

The pocket notebooks are a set of three; a yellow one with the Hogwarts crest, a light grey ‘Care of Magical Creatures’ one and a light blue one with a Weasley Jumper design to match the A5 version. They contain approximately 40 sheets/80 pages of bright white lined paper, the line spacing is approximately 8mm and the notebooks are stitched which means they open flat allowing you to use the full width of the page. I ink tested them using a medium nib and Diamine Oxford Blue and whilst there is a small amount of show through it is not enough to prevent you using the reverse side of the page; so, I would say these notebooks are suitable for use with a fountain pen.

 

A5 Notebook

The larger A5 notebook is a softback notebook; the cover is light blue and on the front it has an illustration of a blue Weasley Jumper with a yellow ‘H’ on it and the motto ‘Lovely And Warm’, above the jumper it says ‘Harry Potter’ and below it ‘The Weasley Jumper. The colour scheme, layout and illustration, whilst simple, is highly effective and very eye catching; I think this design is fantastic and I’m looking forward to see if the range expands.

On the rear cover, once you remove the sticker, the only branding is at the bottom centre and it’s just the usual disclaimer for Warner Brothers. The flyleaves, front and rear, are a very nice mint green and once you are past those you are into the notebook.

I’m not a hundred percent certain as there is no information on the notebook and nothing I could trace online but a rough count of the pages came out at 100sheets/200 pages. The design for the pages is a two-page lined layout printed in grey on off white paper; the line spacing is approximately 8mm and each page has twenty-four lines. In the bottom right and left corners respectively is a small design of Harry Potter’s initials and a snitch.

It is a glue bound notebook, but it does open enough for you to use the majority of the page and the cover has been creased, front and rear to make this a little easier. 

I tested the paper using Diamine Oxford Blue Ink and a wet nib and the results were excellent; there was no sign of any bleed through just some very light ghosting which would not affect you using the reverse side of the page, so I’m happy to say this is a fountain pen friendly notebook.

This is a well built and thought out notebook from the choice of colours to the simple but effective cover design; and you can tell someone put a lot of thought into it because, rarely, would you see a notebook in this price range where the cover has been creased to help offset the effects of glue binding. 

Conclusion

Are they worth your pennies, without a doubt at this price they are. Both are absolute bargains and I would recommend that if you see them and you like them that you pick up a few as I don’t think they’ll be around for long. For you or anyone you know who likes Harry Potter these are great notebooks to add to the collection.

Finally, I have my review copies sitting on the desk next to me and they are free to whoever wants them all you have to do is add a comment to this post or email me saying which you would prefer; it’s first come first served and I’ll post as soon as I can.

Disclaimer: All of the notebooks were 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.