newestor Travelers Notebook Cover with Inner Pockets, Card Slots and Pen Holder, A5 Size, Dark Brown

TLDR; Recommended, if you are considering this, or on the fence - purchase it, you are unlikely to regret it!Pros:Price, features (Card/organizer slots, pen loop, reinforced spine) - oh, and because the closure loop comes out the spine, there is no 'hot spot' rubbing against my leg if I carry it in my pocket (my midori would rub a hole in my leg if I put it in with the back cover towards my leg.) Fits the Field Notes notebooks!!!Cons:Slightly too small pen loop, Stitching is almost certain to wear through and come apart, eventually, one-piece insert cord. Fairly thick/chunky - not gonna be your wallet if you are wearing suit pants!I have a passport size traveler's cover old enough to be stamped Midori on the back - so probably 10-12 years or so? I have only carried it with me regularly for a portion of that time, for several reasons. Changing needs for my wallet and it's capacity, etc. I dabble in (bad) hobby leather working, and part of me has always wanted to improve upon the basic Midori cover design (It is, after all, simply a piece of leather folded over with some holes punched through it for elastic cord.) It has never been enough of a priority, for me, however, to sit down and lay out all the pieces, and then cut and stitch the leather, etc. And knowing my skills and patience, the finished product *might* be usable, but would certainly not be pretty!So, I stumbled upon this on Amazon. Sat on it for a week or so, and finally broke down and bought one. I paid almost 20 dollars just to replace the silly clip-on pen holder for my traveler's (which I dug out of retirement as I wanted to start carrying a notebook again) - so for the price of a fairly essential accessory, you get an unexpectedly nice alternative with most, if not all, of the upgrades I had considered trying to make on my own.First: This is big enough to take Field Notes notebooks! YEAH! Yes you can stuff them into a Midori cover, but they stick out, get bent up and mangled and messy and gross and just yeah. Now, the holes are spaced for the passport size notebooks, and the top and bottom edges of the field notes book are EXACTLY even with the edges of the cover. Zero wiggle room. BUT, the band still holds it in nice and snug, and the critical part - the open long side (across from the spine) is more than deep enough to cover the edges of the FN. I wouldn't go much wider than that, but it fits nice.Second: This has FOUR interior elastic bands for holding inserts. No need to rubber-band hack your cover to add extra inserts (though that would still work here if you wanted to get crazy.) This is a net win, and I am pretty happy with it, though it does also encompass one of my few niggles: the spine is reinforced (on the outside of the cover) with an extra layer of leather. This stiffens and reinforces the spine (presumably the point!) but also makes it rather 'chunkier' than a regular midori cover. With the same contents, my midori was approximately half as thick as this cover, so more sleek in the pocket. Something to bear in mind if you have tight pants, or need the slimmest possible package - this won't be it. However, at least in standard fit slacks, I had no problem putting this in my front hip pocket, and it was only a little more bulky than some wallets I have carried. Minor nit two - One piece of elastic cord, wound through all the holes, to make the four attachment loops. If one of them breaks or frays, they all break. I would have preferred individual cords, though I can also understand why they made the design choice they did - one knot, inside the cover, easily adjusted to be 'out of the way' with a cleaner outside look and feel.Third: The pockets/card slots/ organizers/etc. : Here I think they exceeded even what I would have done. Not only is there a full height pocket on both the front and back covers, but a pair of card pockets on the inside of the front cover as well (or back, I suppose, if you prefer to use it that way). Adding a double layer of pockets to the cover without it being super thick and bulky is something I would have struggled with, or failed at - but this is done very nicely. The pockets/slots are all well sized, easy to slide cards/etc. in and out without struggling, but not so loose that they don't hold contents securely. It seems likely that they may stretch over time, and perhaps be less effective then, but the pockets hold my cards snugly enough that I actually doubt that will be a problem.Quality: Overall, and especially given the price, excellent. The leather used is attractive, dyed in a pleasant deep shade of brown, and has a nice look and feel to it, that suggests it will only improve as it ages and takes on 'patina'. The edges are not burnished (which is not a surprise at this price point. The fact that the Traveler's covers, at a much higher price point, are also not burnished is more surprising.) Also, the stitching is machine done, without being sunk into any kind of stitching groove. So, the stitching will eventually wear, and once any one of the stitches break, the rest will unravel fairly quickly afterwards. That can be repaired, when (not if) necessary, with some thread and needles and a few youtube videos about saddle stitching!Final feature: Built in pen loop! This is probably the thing that most held me up on making my own design - trying to figure out how to mount a pen loop out of the way and securely. They went with the simple, but functional expedient of sewing a loop of leather to the inside edge of the cover. This is another minor niggle for me - as I expected, the loop is a bit small for most fountain pens. If you tend to use a pencil or ballpoint, you will likely be fine (mechanical pencil, or a pencil with a clip like the Faber Castell Perfect Pencil, also recommended!) but fountain pens tend to be a bit fatter, and vary widely in diameter.So far, my vintage Skylines fit very nicely, but if you don't happen to have a collection of fountain pens from the 1940's, the ones I have tried so far are thus:Jinhao 100 - Pen body fits, cap does notTwsbi Diamond 580 - Body fits, cap does notLamy Safari (and Al-Star, etc) - Body fits, cap does not (barely!)Noodler's Konrad - Body fits, cap does notNoodler's Ahab - Just no.Platinum Preppy - YesNoodler's Charlie - YesJinhao Shark Pen - Yes (except the fin)$5 pen from Daiso - Yesvintage Parker 51 (and also most if not all of the clones, homages, inspired by's, etc.) - YesPilot MR (metropolitan) - YesPilot Varsity - YesCheap Chinese disposable fountain pens from Amazon (Varsity clones, they work nice, may hand them out instead of candy this year for Halloween!) - also YesI made this list (and a long review even longer!) so the folks who like to carry an inexpensive fountain pen with their notebook have an idea what may or may not fit, but also to offer some tips if your pen does not fit.1. You can add a new loop. Either sewn in, or a Midori style clip on (which also have a reputation of being a bit on the small/tight side, as well as their price) or some other add on pen loop you find on the internets or make.2. You *may* be able to gently wet the leather pen loop (try to ONLY wet the pen loop, and not the rest of the cover, or it will likely water stain the leather) and gently stretch the leather with the pen that you want to carry. This may make the already fairly thin leather too thin and weak, and cause it to break/tear/cause Armageddon. Try at your own risk!3. Carry a pen/pencil that does fit, and carry a separate pen sleeve (something you will have to do anyway if, like me, you like to have both a pen and pencil, or multiple pens, handy)4. Flip the cover over. The pen loop is sewn closer to one of the small edges than it is the middle. So, depending on whether you put the the side with the penloop as your "front", or the side with the card slots in front, the loop will either be at the 'top' or the 'bottom' end. So several of the pens I listed above could have the bottom end of the barrel put into the loop, and the elastic cord around the middle will help hold it in place. This only really matters if you care about 'up' and 'down' i.e. don't want the pen upsidedown in your pocket. If you throw it in a purse or backpack, you can just stick the pen in whatever way fits and not worry about the orientation of your cover.There you go, massively too much information, but that is my analysis of the cover. I may look at picking up a couple of their A5 covers if they are as nice as this!

I searched for months for the perfect leather cover for my needs. I kept coming back to this one. I was hesitant based on the reviews and that it was listed as a "frequently returned" item. I took the leap and I am so glad I did. It is perfect! Does the leatherscratch easy? Yes, but it adds character to it. Im not going for perfect. I want something that over time will look loved and worn. I hold so many things in this little book and it fits perfectly into my purse. I have taken it on vacations, work, home, hikes over the past 6 months and it still looks beautiful! Scratched, yes, but its quality that will last me for years. Im buying them for gifts because im so impressed.

This cover exceeds my expectations. I use it with a hobonichi cousin (a5) and it fits perfectly.

Well made journal cover. Recommend!

I do not regret my purchase- great quality leather and craftsmanships for the price compared to other luxury brands. The pockets and pen holder seals the deal. fits a hard cover journal and more.

I’m honestly shocked at how good the quality of this notebook cover is for the price. I was looking into buying one from another reputable site at $70-100 for an A5 travelers notebook, until I stumbled upon this one for under $40 with good reviews and I’m so glad that I did. It’s thick leather, has pockets and a pen holder and the elastics are good quality. I believe this will last me a long while. If it doesn’t I’ll update this review but for now I’m extremely happy.

i rlly wanted an alternative louise carmen notebook, because it is just sooo expensive and this was the best option i could find. before buying this i saw a few reviews about finding mold on it?? which was a bit scary tbh but i’m glad mine came in great condition. i added my own charms on the string of this which looked so cute. i do have to say that even the slightest thing that scratches this leaves a subtle mark soooo that’s something to be mindful of. otherwise, i rlly love it

i love this note book cover. the ruggedness is perfect for what I was going for. my ONLY complaint would be that the elastic straps that hold paper are not truly sided to fit an A5 sheet of paper in landscape mode. I had to use a cutting board and remove .5 inch of a 8.5x11 sheet of paper for it to comfortably fit. So if you are wanting to fold sheets in half and make miniature bookless or writing journals, you'll need to cut down a standard sheet of paper to 8 x 11.My office has a cutting board, so this is not a problem for me.I would buy again without a doubt. It's kinda on the pricy side tho. But I see this lasting for a while!