A leather notebook cover can cost €15 or €200, and the pages inside are the same pages. It is a fair question what the difference buys, so here are our numbers and what sits behind them.
A standard cover is €65 in A6 and €85 in A5. A trifold is €80 and €95. Every one of them is cut after the order is placed.
What is in the box
The cover, one elastic fitted in the colour you choose, one spare cord, and free personalisation of up to ten characters in gold foil, silver foil or blind debossing. A5 and A6 covers also come with one plain paper notebook insert. Covers made to custom dimensions do not include a notebook insert.
The spare cord is there because the elastic is the part that wears out while the leather is still fine. It is a small thing that decides whether the cover is still in use in year three.
Why the trifold costs €15 more
It is more leather and more work. The flap adds 70 mm across on A6 and 100 mm on A5, which means a longer piece cut from the hide, more edge to bevel and burnish by hand, and a longer crease to work in.
It is not a premium version of the same object. It is a different shape that takes longer to make.
The hide is the part you cannot cheapen
We cut Buttero at 2.2–2.4 mm and Pueblo at 2.0–2.2 mm, from Conceria Walpier and Badalassi Carlo. Vegetable tanning takes weeks in pits rather than a day in a drum, and thicker leather means fewer covers out of the same hide.
That is most of the gap between a €15 cover and this one. Made-to-order covers are cut after the order arrives; Ready to Ship covers are already finished. Both are made by hand in our workshop.
Why Ready to Ship is 10% less
Those covers already exist as finished A6 pieces, made before you ordered. The 10% is what you get for taking the cover as it was already made, in that leather and that size, instead of specifying your own. It is not a seconds price and there is nothing wrong with them.
They also leave in 1–2 working days instead of 5–7, which is the other half of the trade.
Why there is no sale
There is no countdown, no seasonal discount and no code. A price that drops every few weeks is a price that was wrong to begin with, and we would rather you did not have to time a purchase.
The Ready to Ship discount is the only reduction we run, and it ends when that particular cover sells.
What it does not include
Additional notebooks beyond the single plain insert included with A5 and A6 covers, and a guarantee that you will like the colour in a year — because it will not be the same colour. The surface finish and the way it changes with use vary by leather. That is the argument for buying one and the reason to think about it first.