I was recently helping a friend with some decluttering, and you can imagine my joy when we unearthed this:

This was her Filofax from around 1988 or so, which she used for many years until switching to a Palm Pilot. (The Palm Pilot didn’t last long– after letting the battery die and losing all her data, she went back to using a pocket size Filofax as her address book while gradually transitioning to mostly using her computer and phone for organizing her calendar and contacts.)

When I think of the original, prototypical Filofax that became all the rage in the ’80s, it’s exactly this model. It’s gorgeous, made of beautiful sturdy calf leather. It’s been broken in quite a lot but is still in good condition other than some scuffs here and there. It has also lost the little cover backing from the snap– a very common problem with Filofaxes of this era.

This model was called the Winchester, but until later in the 1990s, Filofax didn’t stamp the model names inside the organizers. In the ’80s, they stamped a code number that indicated the number of pockets, the leather type, and the ring size: 4CLF7/8. This model has 4 pockets: an ID pocket and a small pocket above it, and then 2 full length pockets, a flat one in the front and a gusseted one in the back. The CL stands for the calf leather, and the rings are 7/8″ in diameter.

The size of this Winchester Filofax seemed almost smaller than I remembered them being. That may be because the corners have been rounded and bent by it being stuffed fat with inserts and banged around in a handbag for many years, but it’s also because it actually is smaller than some of today’s Filofax models. (You can see a comparison of an identical Winchester vs. the popular Malden model dating from the 2010s to present at this link. The Malden looks much bigger.) This Winchester Filofax measures 7 3/16 x 5″, a hair smaller than the 7 1/4″/ 185mm that was specified in Filofax catalogs. I’m usually so loyal to pocket size notebooks, but fondling this Filofax is making me want one just like it!

There’s no Filofax logo anywhere on the outside of the organizer, perhaps because this kind of leather wouldn’t lend itself to blind stamping? It’s a thick, relatively stiff leather with a nice grain and glossy surface. It would definitely have taken some breaking in, and would probably never lie flat even if it hadn’t been sitting closed for 20+ years. There are ring protector flaps that also serve to keep items very secure in the pockets– almost too secure, as it can be a bit awkward to get under the flaps due to the leather stiffness.

My friend used this mostly as an address book. The 2002 calendar inside it is totally blank, though she said she probably wrote some appointments in previous years’ calendars. She stuffed various business cards into the pockets and had loose papers tucked in front of the pages. The back pocket contents were a real time capsule: a car service voucher from a job she retired from 10 years ago, and a long-distance calling card, from pre-cellphone, pre-Skype/Zoom/Facetime days!

The inserts still include a lot of what was probably part of the package when she bought it: alphabetical tabs and address pages, which she used, and some “don’t forget” pages, which she didn’t. The original “reward if lost” card is in there too, though she didn’t fill it in. There is also a top-opening plastic envelope, which she didn’t seem to use.

She had plain and lined grey paper with various lists and notes, including some jottings about a trip to Egypt. I thought it was cute that she had a single notes page titled “Email Addresses,” containing the few people she knew who had one back at the dawn of the internet! (There was no space for email information in the address page format.) She added some maps, and some thin onion skin paper “Notes” pages with 1-4 numbering on them. I don’t recall seeing that layout before. The reference number is 807, which I haven’t been able to find in the Filofax catalogues of that period. The closest I could find was a “Memo, 3 divisions” insert, numbered 806. Given that Filofax catalogued a mind-boggling array of inserts for every possible purpose, it’s funny that they missed this one! But also rather understandable that they would have been hard to keep track of… (See my guest post at Philofaxy for a similar situation!)

All my friend’s inserts except the calendar have a soft raggedy-ness to the edges, showing that they spent a long time in that organizer, being carried around and flipped through over the years. But a lot of the pages are blank: my friend is not really much of a notebooker, though she often tells herself she should write more things down!

My friend said she remembered going to Lee’s Art Shop in NYC (long gone, alas) to buy this Filofax and its various refills over the years. Finding it now in a neglected drawer seemed to awaken a fond nostalgia in her: “Oh, my Filofax! I loved it!” I mentioned that I’d seen similar ones selling for well over $100 on eBay, but she immediately said “no! I can’t sell my Filofax!” She didn’t want to give it to me either, but she let me thumb through it and take all these photos, on the condition that I hide any identifying details. It’s always fun to get a peek at someone else’s notebook, especially a well-used classic Filofax like this one!