Essential Lined Journal

I couldn't find specifications on this journal initially, so I ordered it and came up with the below information: COVER - The cover is made of red leather with a very simple embossed heart on the front. The actual color is fairly close to the color in Amazon's picture. If the cover appears a little brown on the product picture, the actual color does not look brown at all, but more of a garnet. The cover does not seem to scratch easily or hold marks on it. It should hold up to some abuse. PAGE LENGTH - 128 pages or 256 leaves if you write on the front and back + 1 blank prelim page at the front, and 1 blank trailing page at the back. 18 lines per page (not counting writing on the top line) MATERIAL - The paper is ivory and goes well with the red cover. It is acid-free (meaning it will not deteriorate or turn yellow easily) and made of heavy stock. The paper is not very thick and in my hands it feels about the same weight as standard American 20lb weight copy paper. The lines on the paper are a somewhat light color. They are the perfect shade in my opinion and don't stand out too much, but are dark enough for ease of use. There is some light bleeding through to the pages in areas where I pressed the pen down too hard, or when I've used a heavy fountain pen. It is enough that you can easily read what is written on the back of the page. Unless you have a light hand or are using a light ink, I would probably recommend against using both sides of the page. You could certainly do it without a mess, but it just depends on how clean of a look you want on each page. I cut a piece of a manila envelope to the same size as the journal pages, and put it underneath the piece of paper I'm writing on each time so that it doesn't bleed through to the next page. SIZE - 4.75" x 6 5/8" (not quite 5x7 as the description says) Actual writing space (length of the lines inside the margins) = 4.25" x 5.25" THIS IS EXACTLY HOW MUCH SPACE U HAVE PER LINE| (if you were to write in 12 point Times New Roman font). So expect not to get any more than 162 words per page unless you handwriting is very small. The margins are the perfect width to ensure you get enough use out of each sheet and no room is wasted. BINDING/CONSTRUCTION - the binding is sewn in, and separated into 8 sections. This way you don't have to worry about too many pages being held by one thread, and the threads can actually break and only 1/8 of the journal will separate. This method of binding is also very useful because it means you can easily open to any page in the journal and it will naturally separate along one of those sections, so you don't have to break the binding too much to lay the journal flat like you would have to with a paperback book. The binding and threads are also secured on the back with a strip of adhesive. The binding is very well made and the threads seem tight, but strong. I do not have any qualms about the binding breaking and would think this journal should hold up to daily use for awhile and several decades of storage. After heavy use, I do not see any noticeable creases on the spine of the journal where you can tell it has been opened many times. It still appears new. There is no bookmark built into the journal. I find this to be a very nicely-made and simplistic journal and think it would satisfy the requirements for anyone who wants something small and nice-looking. It is not something I would write my Presidential memoirs in, but satisfies my requirements for regular daily use.

I'm very pleased w/ this purchase!! The book is so much prettier in person. It's not the drab, dark blood red (that's pictured, but a pretty deep red. It matches the red top of my Gateway Laptop, exactly. I bought this to use as a password book & it's works perfectly for that use. I have plenty of pages left under each letter of the alphabet to add many, many more entries, even after I've already added all the websites & passwords, I now have. I doubt I will ever have to replace this book. I'm getting some alphabet tabs to put on the edges to make it easier to locate pgs. but even w/o them...so far it's working fine. The pages are wonderfully smooth, lined paper & I've used a mechanical pencil to write the websites & passwords so they can be easily changed, if need be. I've found that the smoothness of the paper facilitates quick & easy erasing. The book appears well made & sturdy & is a nice compact size w/o being overly small. It's worked very well for my needs & I would definitely recommend this book to others.

Perfect for my project; high enough quality to be given as a gift.

I was looking for a dark green (like a forest green) covered journal notebook, and this fit the bill for what I needed. The outside cover is kind of like a fabric with the rather "antiqued" brass kind of decoration of the tree, which was very nice. The decoration is small, if you're not crazy about things like this on the front cover, but it is dimensional - not flat. I am always seeking sewn bindings rather than glued, and this one is sewn, as you can tell from the item photo if you zoom in closely. Served the purpose for which I purchased it. The price could be a bit lower, but it was not over-the-top for this item.

This journal is great as a notebook, or a keeper of reminders. The leather covers are soft and smooth, as well as pliable. They are sturdy enough to withstand being bent and rolled up, and thin enough to make that easy. The paper inside is of heavier stock than most journals, and is a nice color. The lines are prominent, even in dim light, which is nice for late night entries. Both sides of the pages are lined, and there are no margins. The size is nice to fit easily into a bag or purse for notes on the go. This one is actually a bit smaller than I expected. It does not do so well as a journal used for long entries. The pages are short and narrow, which means that you will be flipping to the backs of pages after only a couple hundred words. I find that I fill about 8 pages in one entry, due to the size. The binding is a bit tight, so pages must be bent quite far back for them to stay in place (open) while writing, which also means that the covers stay ajar when the notebook is closed. Also, since the covers are soft, it is difficult to write in any other position other than on a flat surface. If trying to write in bed, or on a lap, it is difficult due to the whole journal bending, especially when writing on the backs of pages. The paper's heavier weight is nice, because Sharpie pens and similar writing implements don't bleed through it. The pages also don't tear or wrinkle very easily. The surface of the pages is smooth, so some pens may have difficulty on it, but all felt-tipped pens I have used have been fine. The tight weave of the paper means that the ink stays sharp, and doesn't bleed across the grains. Overall, I recommend this journal to anyone who is looking for a good gift for a young adult starting a journal/diary. Once they get older though, the annoyance of writing long entries in this journal will lead them to something with stiffer covers.

I love this journal and probably will get more. Easy to write in and haven't noticed any bleed through. Small enough to go into a purse too for traveling.

I just got this journal a few days ago, and I love it. The cover doesn't feel like normal leather, I am not sure if it is fake, or treated somehow, but I love the feel of it. The seams seem very sturdy, and the pages are just the right thickness that the ink doesn't bleed through, but they turn easily and don't feel like card stock. The lines in the pages are just the right distance apart and just dark enough to be seen but not to overwhelm the page. It doesn't lay flat easily, but it is still new, so the seams have not stretched at all and that is to be expected of any small leather bound journal. The size is also great, it fits nicely into my small purse, but isn't "pocket sized" and has plenty of room on each page to write. The whole thing feels very sturdy and like it will last a long time.

My first journal purchase and I love it! The size is perfect, the line spacing is great, the paper quality is great as well, and it's just overall very cute and handy. I love the dark red color with the heart embossed on the front. I don't write it in it every day, as of now it's more of diary-type use. I bought it at the beginning of the year and now about 10 days till the new year, I'm barely close to halfway through. Of course everyone is different with how much they write, but it's a good number of pages to me. Would recommend! In photo it looks more bright red than it actually is, so the photo provided from Amazon is the correct color.

Been buying these for years and they are geat journals - Love them

This little book is beautiful to hold and behold - too lovely for my quotidien scribblings and lists. I hesitated for some time before plunging in. I wanted to preserve its pristine perfection... I am disappointed. Ink bleeds through the page - and not in a subtle way. I cannot write on the backs of pages; such a waste of paper. And as I near the midpoint of the book, the pages seem inclined to tear away; the book is not very well bound. This lovely notebook looks and feels like the twenty dollar volume it is, but behaves like a much less expensive one. And the fact that i can only use half of its pages devalues the book all the more.