Leather blank book, hand-made, with original ceramic coffee-bean button closure. selling A coffee-lover's journal, diary, sketchbook.

A gift for your favorite coffee-loving writer -- or for yourself.

This book is carefully crafted in the traditional way, with pages sewn in place, snugly and securely, with strong waxed linen thread. The leather is reddish-brown oil-tanned cowhide, with a wonderful soft and supple feel to it. It is a fairly large journal, with pages 6 by 9 inches.

The back cover folds around to close the book. The hole in the flap and the button on the fron cover are placed perfectly, so that the book is easy to open and close, but the hole and button will hold the book closed until you open it.

The button is a hand-made, hand-fired ceramic button, with a coffee-bean texture, made by my wife, the ceramic artist Fay Jones Day ( https://www.etsy.com/sg-en/shop/fayjonesdaytile ).

The book has end-cloths with a coffee-bean print, rather than end-papers, and a coffee-colored ribbon. The paper is cream-colored Strathmore selling drawing paper.

Like most leather which has not been processed to death, the leather of this book has some imperfections -- minor scuff-marks, mainly.

This is a *very* durable book, made by a craftsman with decades of experience.

Because of natural variations in leather, the book you receive will look somewhat different from the book in the pictures.

NOTE: If you purchase this book, it may be a bit bigger than the pictures lead you to expect. I have large hands.

SHIPPING: I ship via USPS Priority Mail, which gets things anywhere in the US in typically two to four business days. International orders typically take a week to ten days to reach their destination.

★ ★ ★ ADD-ONS: ★ ★ ★
A monogram or text can be added to this book: https://www.etsy.com/sg-en/listing/246826744/add-a-monogram-initials-to-personalize.
Additional pages can be added to your book: https://www.etsy.com/sg-en/listing/246852679/more-pages.


PAGE SIZE: 6 by 9 inches
NUMBER OF PAGES: 288 pages total.
PAPER: Strathmore 60 lb acid-free drawing paper
GLUE: Hollander's archival PVA book adhesive.
THREAD: Waxed linen thread.
HEADBAND: Hollander's woven silk headband
LEATHER: Oil-tanned cowhide.
END-CLOTHS: Cotton print fabric.
CLOSURE: Original ceramic coffee-bean button and circular button-hole in the leather.

The linen thread used in this book is from WhiteCloverKiln: https://www.etsy.com/shop/WhiteCloverKiln

A WORD OR TWO ABOUT THE BINDING:

I have a thing about the binding of a book. I want it tight, solid, durable. First off, the pages have to be "sewn in signatures" -- not just glued in. A "signature" is kind of like a pamphlet. It might be, say, eight sheets of paper folded down the middle, to make 32 pages. This book has nine of those, all next to one another and sewn to the spine of the leather, with stitches of the green waxed linen thread that you can see outside the spine.

I want the pages in my books to be stitched in there good and snug.That puts a lot of tension on the spine, and can compress the spine's leather. So I glue a strip of linen to the inside of the spine, to reinforce it.

I want the pages in my books to flow one to the next, all the same -- I don't want space between the signatures, where the bare leather of the spine can be seen. So the signatures are glued to one another, at the spine, with archival PVC glue from Hollander's. They are also glued, as well as stitched, to the inside of the spine's leather.

I want my books to be beautiful on the outside, but on the inside, too. So they have to have either end-papers, or end-cloths. This helps to secure the pages to the cover, and helps the eye and mind of the reader or writer move from the outer world of the mundane to the inner world of the book, when they open the cover. This book uses end-cloths which can flex with the leather of the covers.

You will feel, when you open this book, and turn the pages, how solid and sound, and how durable, this book is.

PURCHASING:
Are you new to buying on Etsy? No problem! Here's a liink to a simple how-to-purchase guide: http://www.etsy.com/help/article/339

More of my artwork can be seen at my other Etsy store:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/jonathanday