Review by Laura Cameron
A few weeks ago Rollo of London offered us an opportunity to try their A5 Diary as part of their promotional campaign to announce that they are partnering with Paperchase stores.
I selected The Softie Collection, Larkin in British Mulberry A5 (£19.25).
The Larkin is a soft sided journal, with a dark mulberry pliable cover, and embellished with the Rollo logo. The notebook itself measures 8.5″ x 5.5″ (21.5 cm x 14.0 cm) and has 96 sheets of 70gsm cream paper. This means that the book has 192 pages to fill. As an interesting note, each of the pages is perforated, meaning you can choose to remove it from the notebook.
There are two cream front and end pages of the book, and the inner covers are plain, simply the back of the faux Scotch grain. There is also a long black ribbon for marking your place in the notebook.
The notebook is organized like a diary, with two reference pages up front. The remainder of the notebook is narrow ruled, and leaves a place for a date at the top of each page.
I was eager to test this book, as it is kind of similar to the Rhodia Goalbook and the Taroko Breeze in its format.
The first thing I did was test the paper. Unfortunately, this paper is not as friendly towards fountain pens as I had hoped. Despite being lovely and smooth to write on, my fountain pens bled right through the 70gsm paper, rendering the other side unusable. There wasn’t much feathering, just a lot of bleed through, even when I used my finest nibs. I had somewhat better luck with my gel pens, so if you’re partial to gel pens, ballpoints or pencils, this book might be for you.
As for the organization of the diary, I have no complaints. I could easily see using this book to maintain my daily to do lists, or notes on the day. The narrow ruling isn’t too narrow for medium sized writers – I found that I filled the lines, but that I didn’t splash over into the other lines. That said, if you’re a large writer, this ruling may not be for you.
I do love the feel of the cover and the fact that the notebook is super slim. It fits nicely into my purse without adding a lot of weight or bulk. Overall, I think this is a nice notebook, although it might not end up a favorite because I can’t use my fountain pens with it.
Rollo is excited to announce that its journals are now available in Paperchase stores, specifically the Flagship stores Manchester, Tottenham Court road and Glasgow. They will soon be available online at Paperchase, but for now if you’re interested in purchasing you can head on over to Rollo of London.
If you like what you see here, then I have good news for you! In honor of their launch at Paperchase, Rollo sent an A6 Eliot from The Hardy Collection for you. The A6 diary is in the same British Mulberry, but is a hard sided journal with a band to hold it closed.
TO ENTER: Leave a comment ON THIS POST ON THE BLOG and tell us how you would use your new diary! Only one Eliot notebook is available.
FINE PRINT: All entries must be submitted by 1pm CST on Friday, August 3, 2018. All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winner will be announced on Monday afternoon, August 6th. Winner will be selected by random number generator from entries that played by the rules (see above). Please include your actual email address in the comment form so that I can contact you if you win. I will not save email addresses or sell them to anyone — pinky swear – just email you if you win. If winner does not respond within 7 days, I will draw a new giveaway winner. Shipping via USPS first class. Additional shipping options or insurance will have to be paid by the winner. We are generous but we’re not made of money. US residents and APO/FPO only please.
DISCLAIMER: The items included in giveaway were provided free of charge by Rollo of London. Please see the About page for more details.
What a gorgeous notebook – I’d use this as a diary/bullet journal for work – it’s perfect!
Thanks 🙂
I’d use it to create a portable summary of my bullet journal so that when I go out, I’ve got the information I need without having to take my whole journal with me.
What a pretty notebook! I love the dog logo. I’d use it for my rolling to-dos.
For this beautiful journal I would use it to focus on my career transition. Focus on ideas on what’s next for me?
I like to jot personal observations and thoughts down in a small note rather than in an electronic device or a larger notebook for business. This one would be perfect.
I would use it for my quotes and affirmative statements. It’s beautiful and I don’t use FPs, so it would be perfect! 🙂
Personal to-do list in my knitting bag. Perhaps spur me to knit (and write) more!
It would appear to be useful in making list. Like the purple.
These are exactly the kinds of notebooks I use for my daily to-do lists. It would be perfect!
This looks like the perfect notebook for a reading log (or a gift to a wife who keeps extensive reading logs)!
I would use my new diary to keep track of my pen pals.
I would use it to carry around for daily notes and doodles. Love the color! Thanks for doing the giveaway.
Gosh, it looks like I would just never stop touching it. I love using notebooks that are pleasing to touch and hold to keep on the go for notes and brainstorming for stories, essays and articles.
i would want to give it to a friend who is starting out on a new chapter of her life.
I love the color of the cover! I might keep it at work to keep track of to do items, or else have it at home to test new inks with my dip pen which writes a little dry.
thanks for the giveaway. I would use the book as a planner of art activities for my blog posts.
In addition to being a lovely design, that A6 is the perfect size for writing down quotes and sayings that I want to remember.
I’ve just discovered this blog and didn’t realize there was someone out there who loved writing as much as I do. Thanks for the reviews, as it helps me know where to start when I’m not familiar with all the product names out there. This notebook would be perfect for journaling, plain and simple.
This is great! It would be used for a bullet journal, either for my daily planning or my ‘thinking’ journal that I keep ideas, notes, and quotes that I randomly come across for my future speaking and writing engagements.
I only have 27 days left in my current journal, so this would be my next one!Beautiful color, love the dog logo, and thank you SO much for the generous give away!
I’d like to use this lovely notebook as a career journal, because I’m preparing to make a big transition soon and could use a single place to write my notes and thoughts. I mostly use ballpoint and gel pens so the paper should hold up well for that. Thanks for the giveaway!
Beautiful and I love that logo. I’d love to use this as a knitting journal, I want to keep track of my projects and queue to help me knit through more of my stash and saved projects!
These would be perfect for use aa commonplace book!
Hopefully starting a new job so keeping up with the new responsibility
Thanks for the giveaway! I’d probably use one this size as a garden journal.
I could see using this beautiful color notebook as an everyday carry journal.
I love the color of this notebook and would start using it for my 2019 calendar/diary.
Gift for my wife. She needs a new Bible journal.
I like the dog logo and the fact that the pages are perforated. But not being good with fountain pens is a no-go for me. Fountains pens are all I ever use, and I write a LOT, so it wouldn’t work out. Too bad; it is pretty. And I like that it’s not too thick. I hate that “hand-hanging-off-the-page” syndrome I get in the first third of a thicker notebook. Oh, well….