It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone reading my blog, but I’m a total nut for notebooks. The favorite is high quality stuff from Moleskine, but that doesn’t mean that I neglect other offerings out there. So when Kiki James in London wanted to send me handmade leather bound journal, I just couldn’t say no.

Naturally, I had to document this baby, so with my trusty Sony Cybershot T70, I tore the box from the postman’s hands, snarled, and retreated to my home office.

There’s something special about opening a box, knowing that there’s something nice inside, but not being entirely sure what to expect. In this case, I had no idea which of the journals that Kiki James decided to send, so I had my fingers crossed. That made it all the harder to open the box, of course…

As you can see, the journal was nicely wrapped in Kiki James paper. Very classy.

So there it is, the journal. My first impression was how heavy it was, and how nice the leather felt. This isn’t your average $2 notebook, that’s for sure.

I like the Kiki James logo on the back of the journal. Subtle, all the way down. I says “Kiki James London - Handmade in England” if you can’t tell from my photo.

This is the first page. As you might have guessed, the papers are glued to the leather cover, so you can’t exchange it. Better think about what you put in it then… The outer paper (the one that’s glued to the cover) is in cardboard. It seems to stay in place.

Same in the back of the book. Here you get a good view of the magnetic clasp that keeps the journal shut when you’re not filling it with your brilliant observations and such. The magnetic clasp is really good, I like it a lot.

The paper in the journal is thicker than I’m used to, which is a good thing. It absorbs my writing well and has that slight antique white finish that doesn’t hurt your eyes, like some really really white pages can do. Well, not hurt perhaps, but it’s really nice to write on. All good.

Here’s the journal side by side with one of my favorite pens, a Pilot G-2 07. As you can see, the journal isn’t too big so you can easily bring it in a bag, although it is quite a bit heavier than many other offerings.

Here it is side by side with my trusty Moleskine notebook. Quite a bit bigger, however, compared to my Moleskine Weekly Notebook it’s actually not as tall. Thicker and heavier of course, this isn’t an option to small notebooks but rather a journal for contemplative writing in your chambers.

Finally, a shot with whatever I had littering my desk at the time, that seemed relevant. Top left is my Sony Ericsson K810i cybershot phone, and that’s an iPod nano to the right of that one. Below the two gadgets is the Moleskine notebook, and to the right is the Kiki James journal.

Final Verdict

I can’t help it, I really love this journal! It’s not something I’d want to lug around, the thick quality paper and the leather cover is just too heavy for that. It is, however, a joy to write in and I love the format. There’s honestly nothing that goes against this lovely little thing.

Well, two things perhaps. First of all, there’s the price. This particular one doesn’t seem to be on the Kiki James website at the time, but looking at the other journals, we’re talking about some £50, which translates to around $80. That’s a lot more than most people would want to spend on something like this, I’d wager.

The second thing is the pressure this puts on me. I can’t very well scribble nonsense in something as nice as this, now can I? It makes me want to do something brilliant, something I’d be proud to save for years and years, and then pass on to my children and grandchildren and…

You get the point.