Bound to outlast
its author.
Journals, notebooks and sketchbooks in real leather, sewn the way books were bound a century ago.
Choose your collection
"Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man."
400
numbered pages per quintessential
1890s
the sewing method we still use
1
leather company — vereeniging
20,000+
journals written in, and counting
Which collection?
or compare them yourself
| Artisan | Heritage | Inspire | |
|---|---|---|---|
| the pieces | quintessential · traveler's · creator's | classic · refillable | the notebook |
| pages | 400 · numbered · contents | 234 large / 186 pocket · numbered | 240 · ruled |
| feel | hand-bound, ribbed spine | soft full grain, ribbon | pebbled hardcover, elastic |
Every color we make
Every hide is cut in Vereeniging and split the way the range is: the heirlooms and refillable covers on one wheel, the everyday classics and companions on the other. Each wheel is arranged like a paint chart — the colors run in order of hue, and the greys and browns form one run of their own, down into black at the bottom and back out through the browns. Point at any wedge to see which book it is.
African full grain
Hides sourced from across Africa and cut in Vereeniging, South Africa, by a company that makes nothing but bookbinding leather — chosen for how it ages, so no two journals are ever alike.
Smyth-sewn, opens flat
Folded signatures sewn with thread, the nineteenth-century technique still prized for outliving its owners.
Numbered, acid-free
Cream paper from 80 to 150 gsm, matched to the collection — the journals numbered with a table of contents, to be referenced rather than merely filled.
Made to be
handed down.
The Quintessential journals, the Traveler's wraps and the Creator's sketchbooks — every one in full-grain leather, every one packed to be given.
Real leather for
every day.
Gold-gilded edges, ribbon markers, numbered pages. Large for the desk, pocket for everywhere else.
Gifting a classic?
Live in
Color.
Pebbled leather hardcovers with elastic closures and a pocket for loose paper — for work, school, and the bag in between.
"Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration."
Something dressier?
Most notebooks are made
to be used up.
Ours are made to be kept.
Five points.
Every book we make.
Heirloom, classic or companion — every Leatherpress answers to the same five points. Tap them on the specimen.
One source, every collection
Every collection starts with hides sourced from across Africa and cut in Vereeniging, South Africa, by a company that makes nothing but bookbinding leather — the classics, the heirlooms, the wraps, the jackets. Each hide is cut on a Teseo machine and passes four stages of manual inspection before it becomes a cover. The Artisan and Heritage lines are full grain, the top of the hide with its scars and pores intact; the Inspire companions are genuine pebbled leather from the same source. Either way it is real hide, and no two books come out alike.
Take apart an
Inspire journal.
The five points hold across the range — but only the companions carry an accordion pocket in the back board. Scroll, and one comes apart in your hands.Tap a layer to read what it does.
The band that keeps it shut
A notebook gets fatter as it fills — a ticket, a card, a folded page — and the band across the fore-edge is what keeps it closed anyway. It will hold onto something slipped under it, a pen among other things. Nothing clips and nothing snaps, so there is nothing to lose and nothing that stops working after a year in a bag.
Keep scrolling to take it apart — or tap a layer to hold it.
The same points, across the bench
Not one hero product — a house standard. Here it is on each collection.
4
papers — 80 · 100 · 120 · 150 gsm
1890s
the sewing method we still use
1
leather company — vereeniging
20,000+
journals written in, and counting
Ordering for a team?
Your marque,
debossed in full grain.
Client gifts, team milestones, event editions — personalized with your logo, from ten journals to a thousand.
Debossed or foiled
Your logo blind-debossed or foil-stamped, on any colorway in the range — pressed into the leather itself, not printed on a label.
Approved before stamped
Send your artwork and quantity; you get a digital mockup to sign off before anything touches leather.
Volume, quoted plainly
Tell us your number and need-by date — volume pricing comes back with your proof, within one business day.
Gift-ready, to one address or many.
Packaging follows the collection: Quintessential journals leave double-sleeved, the Traveler's, Creator's and Refillable books in heavy two-piece boxes — each with a hand-finished card and no price on the slip. Mixed colorways welcome; delivery to your office, or to each recipient.
1
send the brief — quantity, date, logo
2
approve your mockup — nothing is stamped before you do
3
we stamp, sleeve & ship
Also the right desk for weddings, retreats, conferences, and graduating classes.
Start your commission
a leatherpress / cagifts specialist replies personally — or write to hello@leatherpress.com