Steno pad cover and in-hand writing surface. An excellent tool for any professional or home-keeper. Hand Vs Machine Stitching: See card in item photos for more information. Both are sufficient, hand stitching is marginally nicer and much more time intensive. General Philosophy The leather is 1/8th of an inch thick, strong enough to stand to serious daily use for many years. Not opting for wafer thin leather means I cannot have a dozen small pockets for every gadget and charger, but those come and go. This was built for pen and paper, simple, and largely unchanged for 150 years now. The back cover is made from one continuous piece of leather. This is costly but I find it both more durable and more beautiful. Superfluous seams are a great way for a maker to save costs on leather, allowing products to be made from smaller pieces, but each new seam is a new weak point that did not need to be included. I have omitted any small straps, buttons, ties, or snaps. Delicate parts like these are always the first point of failure. They stick out, they get caught on sleeves and in bags, I find it best to simply live without them.