Field Notes Leather Journals

Leather Field Notes Covers for 3.5" × 5.5" Memo Books

Pocket memo books settled on 3.5" × 5.5" (8.9 × 14 cm) and stayed there. Field Notes use it, the Moleskine Cahier Pocket uses it, and so does almost every memo book on a stationery shelf. This cover is cut at 3.8" × 6.3" (9.7 × 16 cm) closed, narrow and tall, so the booklet is held close at the sides with about 1 cm of leather above and below.

Call it a Field Notes holder or a Field Notes case if you prefer; it is the same object. When a booklet fills, you slip it out from under its elastic and put the next one in, so the cover becomes a leather field journal you refill rather than replace. Asperaria is not affiliated with Field Notes; the covers are cut to fit the format.

What Size Cover Do Field Notes Need?

The booklet size is the fixed number; the cover has to beat it on every edge. Here are both, with the A sizes people confuse them with:

• Field Notes memo book — 3.5" × 5.5", 8.9 × 14 cm, 89 × 140 mm.
• Asperaria Field Notes cover, closed — 3.8" × 6.3", 9.7 × 16 cm, 97 × 160 mm.
• A6, for comparison — 4.1" × 5.8", 10.5 × 14.8 cm. Wider and taller.
• A7, for comparison — 2.9" × 4.1", 7.4 × 10.5 cm. Much smaller — a quarter of A5.
• A5, for comparison — 5.8" × 8.3", 14.8 × 21 cm. Not close.

So: Field Notes is not A6, not A7 and certainly not A5. It is an American memo-book format that does not line up with the A series.

Field Notes or A6? They Are 16 mm Apart

This is the comparison people actually search for, so here it is plainly. A6 is 105 × 148 mm and a Field Notes booklet is 89 × 140 mm — 16 mm narrower and 8 mm shorter. Close enough to be confused on a shelf, far enough apart to matter in a cover:

• A Field Notes booklet in an A6 cover — fits, with extra leather showing at the sides and a little movement on the elastics. See A6 leather journals.
• An A6 notebook in this Field Notes cover — too wide. The cover is 97 mm across; an A6 page is 105 mm.
• A TRAVELER’S COMPANY Passport refill at 89 × 124 mm — fits here, sitting 1.6 cm shorter so a band of leather shows above the paper.

Booklets That Fit This Cover

• Field Notes memo books — 89 × 140 mm.
• Moleskine Cahier Pocket and Moleskine Pocket — the same 89 × 140 mm.
• Word Notebooks and most other 3.5" × 5.5" memo books.
• Scout Books — 3.5" × 5", 1.3 cm shorter, so expect some play top to bottom.
• TRAVELER’S COMPANY Passport refills — 89 × 124 mm, shorter but the same width.
• Asperaria Field Notes refills — 48 pages lined or plain, colored paper, or 250 gsm watercolor paper.

Because the booklets ride on elastic bands rather than sitting in a fixed pocket, two or three can run at once and swap freely.

Field Notes or Pocket Size? Same Booklet, Two Shapes

Both covers take the same 89 × 140 mm booklet — this is the one thing worth getting right before ordering. What differs is how the leather sits around it:

• This Field Notes cover — 97 × 160 mm. Narrow and tall: about 0.4 cm of leather at each side, about 1 cm above and below.
• Pocket Size — 109 × 150 mm. Wider and shorter: about 1 cm at each side, about 0.5 cm above and below.

Pick by which edge you would rather have protected. Field Notes grips the sides and shields the corners; Pocket frames the page and sits flatter in a jacket.

What Makes the Best Field Notes Cover

Four things decide whether a Field Notes cover earns its place in a pocket. They apply to any cover you are weighing up, ours included.

• How the booklet is held. With a slip-in sleeve you carry one booklet at a time. With elastic bands through the center fold you can carry several: a working notebook, a list and a spare. Every Asperaria cover uses elastics.
• How many booklets. Most of our Field Notes covers hold three; Gabriel and Meloria take five, Alpine six, Brielle two and Adalyn one. Each extra booklet adds thickness. Load all six bands and you have a jacket-pocket object, not a back-pocket one.
• The leather. Full-grain Crazy Horse, about 2 mm thick, varying a little from batch to batch. It is waxed rather than coated, so it lightens where it bends or gets scratched, and you can rub most light marks out with a thumb.
• The fit. Buy the cover cut for your booklet, not the nearest A size. A Field Notes booklet in an A6 cover has room to slide on the elastics.

Why a Field Notes Leather Cover for a Paper Booklet

Memo books are made to be used up and thrown in a drawer, which is exactly why they come home bent, damp and short a corner. A cover means the booklet survives the pocket it lives in, and the finished ones stack on a shelf still readable. You keep one cover and go through as many booklets as you like — add refill paper, inserts, a pen holder or a charm as you go.

Field Notes Covers in Six Core Leather Colors

The core range is full-grain Crazy Horse in six colors: Black Onyx, Chestnut brown, Forest Green, Bordeaux burgundy, Cognac and Caramel. A few models also come in Framboise, Rouge or Croco Chestnut, or pair Black Onyx with a second color. Every model is listed with the other seven sizes on the leather journal covers hub, and any of them can be personalized with laser engraving, heat stamping or gold and silver foil.