Honestly, the Levenger Circa Pro Folio is the most posh thing I think I’ve ever owned. Its a letter-sized, black leather folio with a Circa notebook inside. I’ve always been intrigued with the Circa system. It seems to be a great way to have flexibility with a notebook – add, rearrange or remove pages easily without the inconvenience of a 3-ring binder. The Pro Folio takes this to a whole new level.
I’m not inclined to go into a lot of detail about packaging but the box that the Pro Folio came in deserves notice. It felt like a box worthy of the product inside. The Pro Folio came in a heavyweight, glossy bronze box with an fabric elastic closure and subtle “Levenger” embossed on the box – prestigious without being fussy.
Inside, the leather Pro Folio was wrapped in a felt cloth to protect it. The wrap was tastefully stamped with the Levenger logo.It reminds me of how high-end handbag manufacturers provide a felt bag for storing purses when not in use. Very elegant.
By the time I had completely unwrapped it, it felt like my birthday. Inside was this beautiful, black leather folio. The Pro Folio is made of a soft-to-the-touch leather but has a sturdy material stitched inside to keep the covers rigid. It would be easy to use this folio on your lap in a lecture or meeting, if necessary. The leather along the spine is supple and the folio easily opens flat. I suspect the cover could fold back on itself but I can’t bring myself to mar the leather spine trying it.
Inside the front cover are two pockets for business cards and a larger slot for loose papers. The back cover has a full-length slot for holding the Circa notebook in place. The folio came with a standard Circa notebook with black rings and a clear, frosted plastic cover. The Circa notebook has 0.5″ rings and contains 60 sheets of 90 gsm soft white paper. The paper is lightly lined in a pale grey with a wide left margin left blank and spaces at the top for date and topic headers.
The folio will accommodate up to 1.5″ rings and 200 sheets of paper so there’s definitely room to grow with this folio.
I was so grateful to discover that such an extraordinary leather folio contained equally stunning paper. It took ink beautifully. Since Levenger does sell fountain pens I would have been surprised if their paper didn’t behave well with fountain pens. However, I was delighted with how well it behaved. The lines were light enough to accommodate even the lightest ink colors and pencil without obscuring legibility while keeping all the fountain pen lines crisp.
I had the tiniest bit of show through with the Mont Blanc Meisterstück 90 Years Permanent Grey ink in my 1.1mm fountain pen but all the medium and fine nibs didn’t have a hint of show through which means this paper really can be used on both sides.
The Levenger Circa Pro Folio retails for $109-$129 depending on size.
DISCLAIMER: This item was sent to me free of charge by Levenger for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
I would like to offer a suggestion for people who may want to try the Circa folio without having to spend for the top of the line. I have the A5 (or is it just 5ish?), or junior sized paper. You can purchase a couple of the clear covers and then find a zip document folio on e-Bay. For instance:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ARMY-A5-FOLDER-NOTE-BOOK-PAD-HOLDER-MAP-CASE-BINDER-NIREX-ORDERS-COVER-POUCH-/171282075443?pt=UK_Collectables_Militaria_LE&var=470365804786&hash=item27e1350f33
The cover flap fits a No. 12 Rhodia reporter style notebook, and has an eraser sized pocket and a long and two shorter pockets I use for pens. I use this notebook to keep up with what samples I have worked on in the laboratory and their status as well as how I schedule my work (like a Bullet journal). I wouldn’t be surprised there would be an A4 size but, I have not looked.
Levenger has an ebay store that frequently has Circa products. Don’t pay full price for them! Personally, I loathe the plastic discs, I hate the whole system, but I have a ton of other Levenger products. A lot of their leather goods come in shades of purple, (eggplant and grape, they don’t use the word purple), and you can get some great buys at their ebay outlet.
F.I.Y., you need to fix the spelling of folio in your headline.
I love Circa stuff!!