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Old 16 May 2017, 11:14 AM   #1
Bisquitlips
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William Hannah Journals! These are truly remarkable!

I collect fountain pens and it seems as a side hobby collecting journals comes in a close 2nd.

I recently watched a You Tube video on the William Hannah journals and was so impressed with the price and especially the options available that I decided to pick one up.

Here is the review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDdileu-Qj4
Azizah does a great job with the review and it is worthy of the time to watch the entire thing, but if you are of the impatient sort you can skip to about 3:15 to see the packaging.

I decided on the same colors as Azizah did. The Whiskey outer leather cover and the Kingfisher suede inner liner. It is a beautiful combination.

Here is another video review which is also excellent!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czjHJh5hrew

The disc type of paper / notebook system has never appealed to me as the discs seemed to have to extend outside the cover much like Levenger's Circa notebooks, however the WH journals completely enclose the discs and function flawlessly.

Here are the best parts of this notebook.

1. The Aesthetics! This thing is gorgeous. The colors are rich and you will not find any imperfections in the leather dye even on the suede, which is very hard to dye evenly especially with vibrant colors.

2. The Engineering! The discs are milled to perfection. There are no burrs, no tool marks, which means when you turn the pages or add more there are no snags. The paper glides over the discs as easily as any ring notebook or binder.

3. The Price! For about $120.00 you have a gorgeous modular journal that will last the rest of your life and will grow forever. (See archive below.)

4. The Archive System. With the archive system you can remove finished sections of your journal and place them in a set of discs with their own covers and store them on a shelf and just keep going with no end in sight. Perfect!





5. The PAPER!!! I don't care how wonderful any journal is on the outside, it is the paper that counts. This is what concerns me the most when buying an unfamiliar notebook or journal is that the paper will not be FP friendly and I will write 3 pages and then relegate it to a shelf never to be opened again.

The WH company has somehow found a paper that is the most perfect I have ever written on. Regardless of the pens / nibs / inks I have used on the paper the ink dries quickly and doesn't bleed through or feather. It is also thick! 115gsm!

I have nibs that will cause puddling on other papers, but dries perfectly on the WH paper. I actually wrote to the company to share my findings and one of the primaries wrote me a lengthy reply. We we had a long discussion about the paper mill and company where they get their paper. To say the least, this guy has researched his burly British buttocks off finding the paper they use! The worst thing about committing to a journal $ystem is the risk that the paper vendor / mill providing paper to the manufacturer will change their formula in order to save money, provide that "new and improved" paper to the journal manufacturer and the writing experience will go down the toilet because something has changed and no one knows until people start complaining.

David, the person at William Hannah that chose to make contact with me, visited the mill and insured that the mill will not change the formula of the paper that WH uses. The trade off is that, at some point, prices will likely rise in the future due to inflation. (just the way things are), but there will be no changes without notification. WH will pay higher prices for the paper which means its customers will also, but there will be no surprises that ruin the journal and the satisfaction of its happy customers. That is foresight! I know that I am willing to pay any reasonable increase in prices in order to preserve my satisfaction. Especially with something I have used for years.

6. The Paper is Customizable. When you place an order you can choose from 10 different colors and those colors will match the color of the leathers you chose to create your journal if you so desire. You can choose from dot grid, line grid, lined, plain, to do list, week to page diary, weekly planner and week to page with notable dates. (UK only for now.)

7. The quality of the entire WH system is seen by how they are packaged and shipped. Watch the video. WH reeks of the forgotten qualities of presentation and first impressions. In my experience, about the only other company that pays attention to things like packaging is P.W. Akkerman in the Netherlands.

Enough said!

Here are some photos of the one I chose! I know this is long winded for a forum review, but this young company (c 2015) and their products deserve my time. I am not getting paid for this review or receiving any compensation of any kind. This is just good stuff and I am inspired to share with people that appreciate the rarity of quality that is all but gone in this generation.













Amazing quality in the milling of their journal parts. Smooth as silk! If these were not done well it would ruin the journal. The pages would catch and tear. As it is the pages turn and can be removed without any catching or damage to the paper.







Company Info:

About


BUSINESS INFO Founded on July 1, 2015

http://www.williamhannah.com

https://www.facebook.com/pg/WilliamHannahUK

About:
William Hannah Limited makes bespoke leather notebooks that support your #WorkLifeBalance and inspire you to create, plan, dream and remember.

Products:
Bespoke leather notebooks
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Old 16 July 2017, 03:04 PM   #2
jimbones43
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Fantastic post Richard....
Never heard of them but I think I need one...
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Old 17 July 2017, 05:35 AM   #3
Bisquitlips
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Fantastic post Richard....
Never heard of them but I think I need one...
I have had mine now for a couple of months and it is one of the great journals. Also I found out that it is not proprietary and there are several disk based journal refills that will fit with the WH disc system. (Google it).

The best thing is the quality of the materials! The leather is some of the best I have owned and I can see this being an heirloom that will be passed down.

For $130.00 including the refills they include which is ample, it is well worth the money.
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Old 18 July 2017, 08:55 AM   #4
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This is awesome! Thanks for posting. I can see one of these in my future.
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Old 24 August 2017, 01:04 AM   #5
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I purchased one of these a couple of weeks ago based on this post. Absolutely top notch. I carry it with me everywhere. Even the packaging is impressive.
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Old 28 August 2017, 12:56 PM   #6
Bisquitlips
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I purchased one of these a couple of weeks ago based on this post. Absolutely top notch. I carry it with me everywhere. Even the packaging is impressive.
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Old 28 August 2017, 06:07 PM   #7
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Those do look great Richard. I finally burned through my Clairefontaine journal today. Moving to a Mnemosyne that I have laying around. It's a nice journal but doesn't show the inks color as much. Has a tint to it for some reason.
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Old 29 August 2017, 09:16 AM   #8
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Those do look great Richard. I finally burned through my Clairefontaine journal today. Moving to a Mnemosyne that I have laying around. It's a nice journal but doesn't show the inks color as much. Has a tint to it for some reason.
Hey Form!

This is the best thing about these journals! You can add as many pages as you like and move them around as necessary.

I would suggest to give them an honest try. In my many days I have not encountered a journal that is a versatile as the WH. Fantastic in every regard.

The ink colors are true. I think the tint could be your computer screen.

The William Hanna journals are int the top 5% of any I have tried. They are a bit costly, but after the initial cost the costs become very minimal. And these journals will work with many of the other disc based systems such as Levenger and the major office stores such as Office Max.

It seems that the WH journals just devour anything you would like to put in them.

I wish you well!
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Old 29 August 2017, 05:00 PM   #9
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Hey Richard,

I was referring to the color on my Mnemosyne note book being a little tinted. Like the paper isn't as light as other notebooks. Your William Hannah paper looks great! Might just have to give it a shot after this journal runs out.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Old 6 September 2017, 08:43 AM   #10
Bisquitlips
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Formulansx View Post
Hey Richard,

I was referring to the color on my Mnemosyne note book being a little tinted. Like the paper isn't as light as other notebooks. Your William Hannah paper looks great! Might just have to give it a shot after this journal runs out.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The paper is the best thing about the WH journals. Their disc system uses the same measurements as the Levenger and the Staples so many of their papers, cards, and accessories are interchangeable, but the WH paper is way beyond good. You can contact David at WH and get the history on what they have had to go through to get it right, but paper like you can get with the WH journals doesn't just happen.
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Old 19 September 2017, 10:52 PM   #11
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Those look great! Thanks for posting them.
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