Silvine Exercise featured

Silvine Exercise Notebook Review

11 May 2018 By ian

Silvine is a ubiquitous brand in the UK and has been for years. I remember having stacks of red Silvine notebooks as a kid. More recently than that ancient past, Silvine have brought out a series of high quality notebooks that pay homage to what turns out to be six generations of notebook making. The Exercise is one of these. It’s the same size as the basic red notebooks I remember from my school days but upgraded.

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

Size: 23cm by 16.2cm (a little larger than A5)
Price: £7
Pages: 52
Cover: 300gsm card in red, blue or yellow
Paper: 90gsm uncoated, white
Ruling: ruled with margin
Binding: stitched

Silvine Exercise by the sea

If I can put my memories to one side for a moment, I think the cover is simple and stylish, and a fab colour. (However, it’s impossible for me to look at this without thinking of using Silvine notebooks to make lists, design dungeons and mazes, or write stories.) The card and the finish are good quality, with a subtle texture.

Silvine Exercise corner

The contrast of the dark blue inside cover looks great.

Silvine Exercise inside cover

The paper is uncoated. Ink dries quickly with no feathering or bleeding and little show-through.

Silvine Exercise ink back

It doesn’t bring out all the shimmer or shading that many inks have to offer but it’s good paper for using with fountain pens.

Silvine Exercise ink front

The ruling completely reminds me of being at school. I’d like to see this notebook without any ruling at all or perhaps with grid (but then I’d feel compelled to do some maths homework in it). I don’t mind ruled lines but these were too wide for my preference.

Silvine Exercise ruling

Each page is perforated and the pages tear out easily and cleanly. There’s a card bookmark. The pages lie flat when the notebook’s open.

Silvine Exercise bookmark

The dark blue stitching looks great and is strong.

Silvine Exercise stitching

This is a notebook that looks good and is also robust (although the cover will scuff up). It would look good on a desk or be useful in a workshop or on a field trip. This flexibility is a little let down by only having one ruling option (and that one option being wide lines).

Silvine are going big on the nostalgia angle. As you can tell from how much I’ve mentioned the memories this notebook has evoked, they’ve pulled this off. This is a good quality notebook that builds on a long heritage. Personally, I’m someone who looks forwards rather than backwards and the last thing I want to be reminded of is being back at school, so this isn’t the notebook for me. Don’t let that put you off though. It’s a good notebook from a fine old company.

Pros

Fountain pen friendly paper
Good quality materials and manufacture
Iconic design

Cons

Only available with lined paper
Makes me feel guilty for not doing my homework

Silvine Exercise handwritten review

Thank you once again to Nero’s Notes for sending this notebook for me to review.