(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)
Notebook covers are the perfect combination of my love for bags and my love for notebooks, and trying new ones is always enlightening. Because how can something so simple be continually surprising? I've tried dozens of them, across brands and price spectrums, and the Pebble Stationery Co. Leather Cover V2 version is up there with my favorites.
To start with, it's real leather--very soft calf leather. And it's only $60. For me, those two facts by themselves are reason enough, but there are even more reasons!
The outside of the cover has no branding or decoration. It looks very office chic. Inside the left cover, there are three card slots, one folder slot, and the debossed Pebble Stationery Co. name. The card slots are deep, so only an edge of a card peeks out, but they are lined with smooth fabric, so cards are very easy to insert and remove. The folder is also lined, and it's large enough to hold a small pocket notebook.
In the fold of the inside spine, there are two cuts in the leather that are a clever pen holder. Either clipped or clipless pens can be inserted through these slots, and the pen is kept safe along the spine of the case. It's my favorite sort of pen storage in a case, because the pen isn't pressed up against the notebook or hanging out of the edge of the case. Because this slot isn't lined, the raw leather inside keeps pens securely in place. The right inside cover is plain, but the right edge has a zippered pocket that is the full depth of the cover flap. It's a metal zipper, smooth and strong, and the inside of the pocket is also fabric lined. There is an elastic band closure to keep the case closed.
The flaps inside the case can hold two slim notebooks, one on each side, or a larger notebook. The Pebble Stationery A5 Cahier with Tomoe River Paper (to be reviewed next) is the perfect insert, but it also worked excellently well with my Seven Seas Writer, which is a fairly large notebook. It will also fit hardcover notebooks, like a Leuchtturm1917. The inside of the cover flaps are lined with the same smooth fabric as the other pockets, so there's no wrestling required to get the notebooks in.
The biggest question about this case is, how does it work to have a zippered pocket in the back flap of the notebook cover? Won't you be writing on top of whatever is in the pocket? Yes, possibly. It's a slim pocket, so you wouldn't be putting anything too bulky in there, anyway. It's great for planner supplies, like rulers, stencils, or a card of washi tape. A small notepad can fit in there, or some sticky notes. Flat things. What I use mine for is my phone. I often have no pockets in my work clothes, so a folio like this is perfect for carrying a notebook, pen, scratch paper, and my phone around with me. Having slim things in that pocket doesn't bother me when I'm writing--but often I am using whatever was in that pocket while I write, so the stuff has been removed before writing happens. YMMV.
What it all comes down to is that this really is the perfect work folio for me. It has room for business cards, scrap papers, a notebook, a pen, and my phone. That's my essential kit, and it wraps it all up in a very professional-looking, luxurious-feeling package. For an incredibly fair price. I've had this in use for a while, now, and I don't intend on putting it away anytime soon.
(Pebble Stationery provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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