11 Feb 2016

the Leuchtturm 1917 A5 ruled notebook: fountain pens, gel pens and brush pens

Last year, I used this beautiful turquoise Leuchtturm 1917 A5 ruled notebook (shown here and again here) for my notes and I don't think I ever showed how well the paper takes to all kinds of pens. I've used fountain pen, gel pens and a Kuretake Cocoiro brush pen in it and none of them feathered or bled or showed through significantly on the other side. Today, I thought I'd show you all the proof (and also rave a bit about how amazing Leuchtturm 1917 notebooks are).


First of all, I love that all the pages come numbered and that there are designated contents pages! This is a dream and I wish more notebooks did this. You can also see how gel pens take to the paper - no bleeding or feathering!


Next up: fountain pen. This was written with a Pilot Kakuno with a fine nib and was inked with a blue Pilot cartridge. I've shown both sides of the paper - both of which are written with fountain pen - and you can see there is no show through and again, no bleeding or feathering.


Finally, I do like to draw illustrations from time to time and this one was drawn with a Kuretake Zig Cocoiro brush pen and again, I've shown both sides of the paper. No bleeding, feathering and minimal show through!


Honestly, Leuchtturm 1917 notebooks are a no brainer if you like to use inky pens and they come in a wide variety of colours. Aside from it getting quite expensive if you go through them quickly, I can see no flaw with this brand of notebooks.

What's your experience with Leuchtturm 1917 notebooks? Have you found a brand similar to this in design, quality and price? :)

8 comments

  1. i'm obsessed. my main work notebook is a 1917 A5 in purple and my brother has one in brown I got him for his new job...and mum saw mine and got one in emerald plus another in navy blue as a gift for a colleague. We all have the matching pen loops and while they take a bit of stretching they're fantastic too!

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    1. I've never tried the pen loops but you're making me want to! x

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  2. I would give the Clairefontaine Basic Clothbound Notebook a look.
    It has Clairefontaine's amazing fountain pen-friendly paper, is much cheaper, and has white paper (I'm not a fan of ivory).
    The downsides, though...it doesn't have an index or numbered pages, there are fewer pages than the Leuchtturm (96 sheets) and the line ruling is insanely large (8mm). Oh, and the colours aren't nearly as vivid as Leuchtturm.
    For the price, I put aside the ruling and colour variety.

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    1. Already on my list to try in the future! Only once I've used up the majority of my notebooks can I consider buying more ;) x

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  3. I love these notebooks and can't see me switching now. I love the paper, the index (which has proved to be sooo useful) and the fact they lie flat when open.

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    1. Agree with everything you say! I just wish they would do spiral bound ones too x

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  4. Hello Angela,

    do you remember which gel pen was used for writing the index page as shown in picture 2? It looks so well - not thin, not thick, just exactly right.

    thanks :)

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    1. Hiya, the pen used there is a Pentel Energel in a 0.3mm nib I think :) it's been a while since I've one of them but I'm pretty sure it's that x

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