I’ve been coveting a Waverley Scotland notebook ever since I first saw them at Kinokuniya, so I was thrilled when the company sent me a sample to review!

The sample I received is one of Waverley’s pocket size Commonplace Books. I rather like that they call them “commonplace books” rather than the more common “journal” or “notebook,” as the term commonplace book suggests a compilation of information or quotations, or a scrapbook– to me, the best notebooks are always kind of a jumble of things jotted and collected like that.

Since I happen to have some Scottish ancestors whose name was MacPherson, I asked them to send me the MacPherson Red tartan. This is just one of the 48 tartans they offer. It must be a challenge for physical retail stores to decide which tartans to stock, though some Scottish names are more common than others. And some of the tartans are universal designs not linked to a particular clan. It’s worth visiting their website (US Site or UK Site) to see the full range. Whether or not you have any Scottish heritage, it’s hard not to love all these beautiful color combinations and you probably won’t be able to pick just one. (Just like one of our Notebook Addicts of the Week!)

The notebook is a hardcover, in a standard 3.5 x 5.5″ format. The tartan cloth wrapping the outside is lovely– soft but substantial and as noted above, the woven colors are beautiful. The cloth is from Kinloch Anderson Scotland, who were established in Edinburgh in 1868 and have supplied tartan cloth and kilts to the royal family among others. Every Waverley notebook comes with a little booklet with a history of tartan and a clan map of Scotland. In addition, each notebook has a separate card with a history of the particular clan associated with that tartan. (And it is worth emphasizing that these materials offer interesting and true factual info, not some fairy tale about Robert Burns having written all his poetry in a Waverley notebook.)

The construction of the notebook feels very solid. The cloth cover makes the notebook a little thicker than average for a 176 page notebook. There is some cover overhang, but it is pretty minimal and proportional to the thickness. On the sample I received, the overhang was slightly uneven, but within the range of what is typical with many brands, not enough to really stick out as a defect. The only branding on the exterior is a cute little patch sewn onto the back cover.

The Waverley Scotland notebook includes standard features such as a ribbon marker, elastic closure and expanding back pocket. The elastic is just the right tension, and its color varies to match each tartan. The ribbon marker seems to be a silver grey across all color combinations. One nice thing about the back pocket is that it includes a slot for a business card. Why doesn’t everyone do that?! Another snazzy detail is that the page edges are stained, again in varying shades to match each tartan.

The inside front cover has brand info and a space to write contact details. Additional brand info appears inside the back cover. The paper within is 80 GSM, lined on one side and plain on the other, which works well for people who like to write and sketch. One signature at the back is perforated. The paper is a creamy ivory color, with fine grey lines. It is smooth-ish– not very toothy but not as smooth as Moleskine, Clairefontaine or Rhodia paper.

Alas, I did not find it to be very fountain pen friendly. I found that quite a few pens bled through and feathered. Gel ink pens and pencils are fine, though, and show-through is about average. Waverley has a post on their website about this issue and cites another review that says the notebooks ARE fountain pen friendly, so the paper quality may not be consistent, or it may have changed in the last couple of years. Either way, I hope Waverley can work on that! The list price for these notebooks is $15, which is in line with the competition and seems fair given the design details and cloth cover.

Maybe it’s just the MacPherson in me, but I love the Waverley Scotland notebook, despite the paper not being ideal. It has nice little features that distinguish it from the pack, and the tartan cloth covers are really special. The perfect gift for anyone who has Scottish heritage, or anyone who doesn’t! They also make smaller and larger sizes. A broad selection is available at Amazon.

And you can try your luck in our giveaway! The kind folks at Waverley have offered one pocket notebook as a prize. The winner can select the tartan of their choice (subject to stock availability). One winner will be randomly chosen from eligible entries received in any of these ways:

On Twitter, tweet something containing “Waverley Scotland Notebook @NotebookStories @tartanwest1”, and follow @NotebookStories and @tartanwest1

On Facebook, “like”  the Notebook Stories page and the Waverley West page, and post something containing the words “Waverley Scotland Notebooks” on the Notebook Stories page.

On Instagram, follow @Notebook.Stories and @waverleybooks and comment on my Waverley giveaway post, tagging a friend and adding a hashtag of your favorite adjective describing the Waverley notebooks. (Example: “@myfriendsally #scottish”)

On your blog, post something containing the words “Waverley Notebooks” and “Notebook Stories” and link back to this post, also leaving a comment below with the link in case the trackback doesn’t work.

Please note that the prize can only be shipped to a US address. The deadline for entry is Friday December 13, 2019 at 11:59PM, EST. Please allow a couple of weeks for me to announce a winner. Good luck everyone!