Personal Size Leather Journals

Personal Size Leather Journal Covers

Personal is a page size that started in ring planners: the Filofax Personal page, 3.75" × 6.75" (9.5 × 17.1 cm). Traveler's notebook makers kept the page and swapped the rings for elastic bands. The result is about 1 cm narrower than A6 and 2.3 cm taller, a page that suits a week in one column, lists and short daily entries better than drawing.

Worth settling early, because the word gets mixed up: Personal is the size. It has nothing to do with personalization, although this cover can be personalized with initials or a name like every other cover we make.

Personal Size in Inches and Centimeters

• Personal notebook — 3.8" × 6.8" (9.7 × 17.3 cm), the largest notebook this cover is cut for.
• Personal TN inserts and Filofax Personal pages — 3.75" × 6.75" (9.5 × 17.1 cm).
• Our Personal cover, closed — 4.6" × 7.6" (11.7 × 19.3 cm).
• Does not fit: loose ring-punched planner pages. They need rings, and this cover holds stapled or stitched notebooks on elastic bands.

Measure the height first. Around 6.75" (17 cm) tall and under 3.8" (9.7 cm) wide, the notebook belongs here. At 7" (17.9 cm) and wider than 4", it is a B6 Slim.

Personal Next to the Sizes Either Side

• Field Notes — 3.5" × 5.5" (8.9 × 14 cm). 8 mm narrower and 3.3 cm shorter. See Field Notes covers.
• Pocket Size — the same 3.5" × 5.5" paper in a wider, shorter cover. See Pocket Size.
• A6 — 4.1" × 5.8" (10.5 × 14.8 cm). 8 mm wider, 2.5 cm shorter. See A6 leather journals.
• B6 Slim — 4.25" × 7" (10.8 × 17.9 cm). About 1 cm wider and 6 mm taller. See B6 Slim.
• Regular — 4.3" × 8.3" (11 × 21 cm), the traveler's notebook Regular and the next tall, narrow size up, 3.7 cm taller. See Regular size.

The Lucien in Personal Size

The Personal cover is made as the Lucien, a bifold in all six leathers: two panels, a spine and no flap over the front. Inside are three elastic bands, a diagonal pocket for loose papers and two card slots below it. An outer elastic keeps it shut. It is the only model in this size so far, so a trifold or a five-band cover means choosing another size.

Three bands hold three notebooks, or two notebooks and a zip pocket. Thick notebooks eat into the spine, so with two fat ones the third band is better left for something flat.

Paper: What Goes on the Bands

The 48-page paper refill comes in Personal, lined, dotted or white, cut to 3.8" × 6.8" (9.7 × 17.3 cm). The colored, weekly, watercolor and 152-page refills are not made in this size, so for those you bring your own:

• Personal TN inserts from other stationery makers, sold at 3.75" × 6.75" (9.5 × 17.1 cm). They go in with a couple of millimeters to spare.
• A Transparent Zipper Insert, which is made in Personal too, for receipts, cards and tickets.
• Smaller notebooks, such as a Field Notes memo book. They go on the band but sit short of the top edge and shift as you write.
• Leather inserts are not made in Personal.

Leather, Color and a Name

The six leathers are Black Onyx, Chestnut, Forest Green, Bordeaux, Cognac and Caramel, all full-grain Crazy Horse with a wax finish. The color lightens where the leather bends, and surface marks rub back under a thumb. Initials or a name go on before checkout, which is the one place the two meanings of personal meet.

A pen case keeps the pen with the journal, a charm hangs from the closure elastic and a bookmark clip marks the page. Every size sits side by side on the leather journal covers page.