{"product_id":"desk-leather-journal-ruled","title":"Desk Leather Journal — Ruled","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Desk Leather Journal\u003c\/strong\u003e is the bound, ruled notebook that goes in the bag — full-grain black leather, 192 pages, sized to travel to a courthouse and back without being the largest thing you are carrying.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eFull-grain cowhide; leather from the Valencia region of Spain\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eMonhegan Black — soft, slightly textured full-grain finish; every cover varies with the hide\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eNarrow ruled — 6.4mm line spacing · 192 pages\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003e100 gsm paper\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eBook-bound — sewn signatures; pages do not detach\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eGilt-edged pages\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eSoft cover\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003e8 × 5.5 in\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eAssembled in Trenton, Maine; book block made in Korea\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003ePersonal Data page printed inside the cover\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eShips in the maker's gift box\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eGuaranteed for life by the maker\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOpen the cover and two things are already printed there. The page edges are gilded — gold against black leather, visible the moment the book is closed — a finishing step that has nothing to do with how the paper takes ink and everything to do with a bindery that does not cut corners where no one is required to look. And the first page is a Personal Data page: lines for name, home and business address, phone, cell, email, and an emergency contact. Fill it in. It is the difference between a notebook left in a courthouse coming back to your desk and it not.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe paper runs 100 gsm, ruled narrow — 6.4 millimeters between lines, tighter than the Large journal's spacing, which is the trade a smaller page makes for the same 192 pages.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEvery practice runs two note-taking surfaces, whether or not anyone plans it that way. There is the pad on the desk, which is disposable, and there is the book that travels — the one that holds the call you took in the corridor, the name the clerk gave you, the number the other side floated before anyone put it in writing. This is the second one. Sewn signatures mean entries stay in the order you made them, which is the only property that makes a travelling notebook worth anything six months later.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAt 8 by 5.5 inches it goes flat into a briefcase alongside a file rather than on top of one, and the soft cover takes the shape of the bag instead of fighting it. The trade against the larger book is real and worth stating: shorter lines, less margin, and a page that fills faster. What you get back is a notebook that is actually with you when the thing worth writing down happens.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRuled, not blank. Almost nothing in a practice is drawn — the notes are prose and dated lists, and prose wants lines.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBuilt to travel, not to sit. If you want the same book in the larger size that sits open beside a file on a desk, see the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/large-leather-journal-ruled\"\u003eLarge Leather Journal\u003c\/a\u003e. For a case built around a legal pad you will tear from, see \u003ca href=\"\/products\/the-padfolio\"\u003eThe Brief\u003c\/a\u003e; for a zippered portfolio that carries documents rather than holds notes, see \u003ca href=\"\/products\/the-portfolio\"\u003eThe Docket\u003c\/a\u003e. \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/field-guide\/padfolio-or-portfolio\"\u003ePadfolio, or Portfolio?\u003c\/a\u003e argues the carrying formats.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eQuestions we get\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHow is this different from the large journal?\u003c\/strong\u003e Size and ruling, mainly. The leather, binding, gilding, page count and guarantee are identical to the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/large-leather-journal-ruled\"\u003eLarge Leather Journal\u003c\/a\u003e — both books run 192 pages on the same 100 gsm paper. This one rules narrow, at 6.4mm, against the Large's college-width 7.1mm, and is built to travel; the larger book is built to sit open on a desk beside a file.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhy ruled rather than blank?\u003c\/strong\u003e Because of what the book is for. Call logs, witness contacts, research notes, meeting records — all of it is prose and dated lists, and none of it is drawn. Blank paper is a sketchbook, which is a real thing and a different one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCan I tear a page out?\u003c\/strong\u003e Not cleanly, and that is the point. The signatures are sewn into the binding. If you need paper to hand across a table, use a pad and keep this for the record.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDoes it lie flat when open?\u003c\/strong\u003e Not right away. The binding wants to be worked in — open the book fully and bend the cover back a few times — and it will settle flat within the first handful of uses. Expect a short break-in before it lies open on its own.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat about fountain pens?\u003c\/strong\u003e The paper is 100 gsm. Ink behavior on any notebook depends on the pen and the ink as much as the paper, so we won't promise every fountain pen and ink combination will perform cleanly. What we can tell you plainly: this stock is not built for a broad marker or watercolor, and either will bleed straight through.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat is the Personal Data page?\u003c\/strong\u003e The first leaf inside the cover, printed for name, home and business address, phone, cell, email, and an emergency contact. A sewn book has no barcode to scan if it goes missing. This is the maker's answer to that, and it works only if you use it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWill mine look like the photograph?\u003c\/strong\u003e Close, but not identical. Monhegan is a full-grain finish that shows the natural variation of the hide, so the grain and the way it takes the light differ from cover to cover. The photograph is one book, not a template.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhere is it made?\u003c\/strong\u003e Assembled at Gallery Leather's facility in Trenton, Maine. The leather comes from the Valencia region of Spain and the book block from a supplier in Korea. Gallery Leather does not claim \"Made in the USA\" without the qualification the law requires of it, and neither do we. The book says as much itself: printed on the Personal Data page is the maker's own line, \u003cem\u003e\"GALLERY LEATHER CO., INC. · TRENTON, MAINE 04605 · Bound in the U.S.A. · Printed in Korea.\"\u003c\/em\u003e We are only repeating what it already tells you.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat does the guarantee cover?\u003c\/strong\u003e Construction, at any time. In Gallery Leather's own words, if for any reason you are dissatisfied with the construction of one of its products, it will repair or replace it, without question, free of charge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBarrister \u0026amp; Bespoke Curated Collection — hand-selected from Gallery Leather of Trenton, Maine, for its craftsmanship and fit within our world. Curated pieces carry their maker's own identity rather than ours; our house collection, designed and branded exclusively for Barrister \u0026amp; Bespoke, is marked separately throughout the shop.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGallery Leather assembles its books at a manufacturing facility in Trenton, Maine. The leather comes from Spain and the book blocks from Korea, and the company says so plainly — it declines to claim \"Made in the USA\" without the qualification the law attaches to imported materials. A maker willing to tell you where each part came from before being asked is a maker whose lifetime guarantee is worth something. That is why the line is here.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003csmall\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWarranty.\u003c\/strong\u003e This Product carries Gallery Leather's guarantee on the construction of every product it makes: if at any time you are dissatisfied with the construction, the maker will repair or replace it, without question, free of charge. Barrister \u0026amp; Bespoke's own Thirty-Day Assurance covers the first thirty days after delivery. Full terms, including how to make a claim, are stated in our \u003ca href=\"\/pages\/warranty-policy\"\u003eWarranty Policy\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/small\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gallery Leather","offers":[{"title":"Monhegan Black","offer_id":51641497289019,"sku":"20077","price":95.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0963\/8153\/4523\/files\/desk-leather-journal-ruled-black-01-main.jpg?v=1788276726","url":"https:\/\/www.barristerandbespoke.com\/products\/desk-leather-journal-ruled","provider":"Barrister \u0026 Bespoke","version":"1.0","type":"link"}