Midori Cover for MD Notebook A5 - Leather

Worth every cent!

This may be a little long-winded, so the conclusion first: this is an expensive cover but it is worth every cent! I bought an A6 Midori Goat Skin cover last year and slavishly followed the advice on the scrap of paper that accompanied it from Midori, which in summary is: cover is sensitive to marking so put it in a sunny window for 3 weeks and it will resist staining. Something along those lines. It's like passing a baton or delivering an heirloom with the catch that you have to do stuff and wait or it'll all turn out badly. So, I dutifully sun tanned the A6 cover but during this time, stuff did fall on the cover (admittedly, I put it outside in the sun on very hot days) and - without me even using it - it picked up stains and marks. You might think that you are not that careless but I'd counter that with neither was I. This thing stains so easily out of the box. After a year the cover had darkened (but not to a deep amber), and it doesn't accumulate more stains. It is a perfect fit for the Midori notepads, but also fits other stock A6 notebooks and it a pleasure to use. I was considering an A5 Midori cover, but was hesitant based on my A6 experience. Then, reading on-line, I came across a post that talk about putting mineral oil on the leather to protect it and darken the leather (to amber). I tried it on the A6 and the cover looks an amazing (deep and rich amber) and has not lost any of the tactile attractions that this cover has in its original form. Having successfully tried this on the A6 it tipped the balance for me in in a decision to buy the A5 cover, which I did from Noteworthy Stationery. Noteworthy did an amazing job: one of the few 'in stock' stockists, great feedback, fast (UPS) and free shipping. I'm in Ottawa and it arrived from the West Coast within 5 days of my order (good job Noteworthy!). After I unboxed, I coated it with Obenauf’s Leather Oil and let it soak in. The cover retained it's light pink colour (not darkened as the year-old A6 did after an application of oil), but it is darkening much more quickly in the sun (day 3 now a light amber). More importantly, the Obenauf’s is protecting it from staining. Like the A6, the oil has not changed the intrinsic properties that make this cover so attractive: tactile feel, and softness of the leather. For me, with a little treatment with leather oil, this is an awesome cover, and while expensive, worth every cent.