I adore the A5 notebook holder. The craftsmanship is superb, and I am sure it will age beautifully. That said, I do not see the utility of the pull tab (it is sufficiently easy to just pull the notebook out when I wish to do so, and removing the notebook is a rare occrance in any case -- I'd only do it when one is full). Similarly, and as other reviews have noted, the pen holder is not protective and folds oddly when in use. I would rather not have the pull tab and have a pen holder that works better. I find that it is better to use an adhesive / elastic pen holder, attached to the notebook itself, and am pleased to note that the cover protects the pen sufficiently when doing this. Finally, and has been noted elsewhere, thelmagnets do not really work when a notebook is inserted, as they are too far apart.

The leather is soft, matte, lightly textured with a gentle leather smell. Not sure if it will develop a patina, time will tell.
All the edges are very well rounded and polished. The cover feels nice in the hand to hold, and has an OK weight.

The outside cover and both inside flaps are in fact one single piece of folded leather, so stitches appear only along the top and bottom. All corners are softly rounded, which gives the cover an overall distinctive look. The branding is stylish, nothing flashy, just the company’s (good looking) logo discretely embossed in the lower right corner.

The inside is sufficiently spacious to take any A5 notebook, even one with a hard cover.
Underneath the front flap, there are two cutouts - one will fit an A6 pocket notebook (!), the other a few business cards. Very unobstrusive, but handy for sure.

The cover is held close by two magnets, one underneath each flap. However, with a notebook inside, the closure is not that firm. Personally, I won’t lose any sleep over that.

The pen loop is the one thing I don’t quite understand. From the images on the website, I thought it was a loop inside the cover, but it’s not. In fact, the pen will go through all the way, that way be exposed on the outside along the spine. I don’t see myself using this, since I often like to use a somewhat pricy fountain pen.

With all that said, I’m very happy with my purchase, and look forward to using it for my journal and composition book.

Finally, Harber London has proven very helpful via the chat box on their website.