Papio Press Pocket Notebook Review

8 June 2018 By ian

Papio Press are a UK-based company that makes a range of products including calendars, postcards, notepads, jewellery, prints and notebooks.

This notebook was kindly sent to me by Nero’s Notes so I could review it. These are my own opinions.

My original review stated that these notebooks were larger than A6. They are actually exactly A6 and I’ve now corrected the review.

Size: A6 (10.5cm by 14.8cm)
Price: £5 for two
Pages: 48
Cover: 300gsm card
Paper: 80gsm recycled paper
Ruling: each pack comes with one plain and one lined
Binding: stapled

I used this notebook from cover to cover, using a wide variety of fountain pens to record my daily Three Plus One Good Things.

Despite what my stupid brain originally thought, the notebook is exactly A6.

Papio Press notebook front cover

Papio Press notebook front cover

The paper is recycled, which is great. It copes well with most fountain pens and inks. With wetter inks/nibs there is only the slightest hint of feathering but quite a bit of bleed-through.

Because the paper’s quite absorbent dry times are good but you lose some of an ink’s shading or sheeting properties, if it has them.

Papio Press notebook ink tests front

Papio Press notebook ink tests front

The cover is stiff card, with a quirky print. The design isn’t quite for me but that, of course, is down to personal taste. The print is repeated on the inside cover but isn’t exactly aligned, meaning there’s a thin white margin at the top.

Papio Press notebook inside front cover

Papio Press notebook inside front cover

The staples are big and strong so it isn’t a notebook that’s going to fall apart easily.

Papio Press notebook spine

Papio Press notebook spine

This is a perfectly good pocket notebook for a very good price. If you like the cover design I think it’s worth taking a look, particularly if, unlike me, you aren’t silly enough to want to use broad nibbed fountain pens in a pocket notebook. If you’re not keen on this design, some of the other covers are really gorgeous.

Pros

Good variety of beautiful covers
Recycled paper
Reasonably fountain-pen friendly

Cons

Some bleed-through with wet nibs

Papio Press notebook being idle

Papio Press notebook being idle