Introducing our newest piece of specialty book luggage, The Cista. Named after the book totes used in Ancient Rome to carry books from a library out to a chair in an open-air colonnade*, our new bag carries the same spirit of taking books with you out into the world.

Designed in collaboration with Ken Nishijo of Raregem Japan, a Japan-based cabinet-making studio and bag builder, this is a casual bag with serious construction and beautiful details. Made from #4 Selvedge Canvas (woven in small batches on looms imported to Japan from Belgium in the 1930s), and equipped with natural vegetable-tanned leather handles from one the oldest and best tanners in Tokyo. The remarkably precise stitching is all hand-done by Nishijo’s own family in his workshop. The natural canvas has a dirt-resistant starch finish, but this is a bag made to be used hard, age well, and last a lifetime.

The Cista features a large interior pocket, a zip-top closure for travel, shoulder strap with brass hardware, open back straps (for newspapers, umbrellas, a light jacket, etc.), and a big front pocket that can snap closed to make two smaller pockets (gusseted with ingenious folds to make them into smaller, book-friendly rectangles). A commodious bag that remains neat, tidy, contained and trim.

Available in Natural Classic Ecru with Natural Leather or a new version in a rich Navy blue, made with sulfur dye and a one-time, high temperature wash to prevent color transferring to clothes. The leather strapping is given a rich sheen with natural oils and the deep black comes from tannins extracted from the bark of mimosa trees.

12" H x 16" W x 6.5" D with an adjustable leather shoulder strap.

Made in Japan 

*Please note: This item is currently PRE-ORDER ONLY. Costa Bookbags ordered now will begin shipping Dec. 8th 2026*

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*see Reid Byers, The Private Library: The History of the Architecture and Furnishing of the Domestic Book Room. (New Castle: Oak Knoll Books, 2021), p. 81