This wonderful journal - one of our personal favorites - is made in Florence using traditional tools and techniques to emboss and intricately detail the rich, deep brown leather cover using real 23 karat gold leaf.
Handmade in Italy
Color: Deep Brown
Size: 6 x 8 .6"
Cream-colored, lined, 23 karat gilded-edge pages


The leather used to make this journal is of superior quality. The journal is 100% handmade in Florence Italy. Each letter of the alphabet A-M is intricately hand tooled. When the tooling is complete the cover is handbound, hand dyed and 23 karat gold leafed with a bronze colored gold followed by an antiquing final hand finish (after the pages are bound in). No part of the process involves machines!

Inside are 256 pages (128 sheets) each measuring 5.5 x 8.25 inches. The interior journal's pages are of an exceptional quality, heavyweight 5 mil caliper, acid-balanced, low-lignin Italian milled paper. The milling process is a traditional fine papermaking method, yielding a rich cream colored paper that accepts ink well. Each page is lined with 30 rules and is printed in grey with a faint Giglio Fiorentino, officially the symbol of Florence, Italy where these journals are handmade. The Giglio symbol closely resembles the French fleur-de-lis which is said to be a cross between a lily and an iris. The edges of the book light up as it is 23 karat gold edge-gilded!



Editor's Notes: My personal favorite journal! Every inch of this journal's cover is hand tooled in the finest Italian leathercrafting traditions. The old Italian shop where this Alphabetica Italian Leather Journal is made is full of ancient hand leather crafting tools. The artisans in the little shop have passed down from generation-to-generation their ancient craft, using these very tools, as exemplified in this astounding masterpiece!

When I write in the Alphabetica Italian Leather Journal I feel as if I'm back in the renaissance, every page is special to me and I'm so inspired writing in and traveling with this book! Yes, I use it as a travel journal -- devoting a few pages for my fondest memories of my travels and adventures in very wonderful places. What am I gonna do when my Alphabetica Journal is all filled up? Cherish it, keep it forever, and be inspired by its beauty and the memories it holds. Always!

Yeah, a completely handmade book like this is a little expensive, but really it only turns out costing me a buck or two per trip (58 cents a page). It's not the only journal I bring on my travels -- I bring a cheapie to write volumes (and I do!), but I'm especially focused when I write in my Alphabetica -- I just love the handcrafted letters.

Someday when I'm long gone this journal will sell at a Christies auction for ten million dollars. At least one of those millions will be attributable to the fact that it is a well crafted book (in fine condition too!), and the other nine million will be for the great insight that it gives to the exciting life of its talented author. lol!

Hand tooling is a highly skilled means of stamping a decorative pattern into the body of leather. Absolutely no mechanical stamps or machines are used, only small hand tools such as miniature hand dies and tap hammers are used in a labor intensive slow process of building the whole design; detail by detail. It takes two days of work for one of the worlds finest leathersmiths to make this journal!

THIS JOURNAL IS NOT MACHINE FABRICATED! While today's machine made leather goods can be of very good quality, they ultimately fall short of the fine detail, craftsmanship and inherent uniqueness that only a handmade piece (like this) can offer.