LEUCHTTURM1917 Notebook Medium (A5), Hardcover, 251 Numbered Pages Pacific Green, Dotted

For all today’s gadgets, there’s a great deal still to be said for pen and paper. It’s cheap, reliable and you don’t need to worry about the battery life. Setting those practicalities aside, I find great pleasure in a beautiful notebook and a fine fountain pen, though my handwriting still leaves much to be desired. I’m not a alone in this pleasure with a resurgence in paper notebooks and the legendary Moleskine has pushed to the fore. Is it the best? Here we have two lined notebooks, one from Leuchtturm1917 and the other from Moleskine – let’s take a look and find out. Both Moleskine and Leuchtturm draw on their heritage. Moleskine’s dates back into the early 20th Century name-checking Picasso, van Gogh and Hemingway. Although originally French, it died out in the 1980s, only to be resurrected in the late 90s by an Italian publisher. On the other hand, Leuchtturm goes back to 1917 (hence Leuchtturm1917) with roots in Hamburg, Germany and a reputation for stamp collecting albums, which continues today. These stories are laid out by both companies in small cream folded inserts that accompany each book. The message is clear; you aren’t buying only a notebook, you are continuing the traditions of culture, history and travel. Physically both notebooks are very similar but there are subtle and useful differences. I’d call them medium or A5-sized notebooks though strictly the Moleskine isn’t wide enough for A5. Both are 21 cm tall with hardcovers but the Moleskine is only 13 cm compared with the the Leuchtturm‘s 14.5 cm. Each has an elastic enclosure band, page marker and an expandable pocket inside the back cover. They also come in wide range of colours and pair well with 7″ tablets, such as the Nexus 7. Opening the notebooks shows that both have lined pages with the same line spacing, but with the Moleskine, that’s about it. Although both have an Owner page at the front, the Leuchtturm goes further with three Contents pages and each page is numbered for easy reference. In addition, there are eight perforated pages towards the back that can be removed, along with some stickers to assist with archiving once the notebook is full. The Leuchtturm1917 is for those who want to be organised! “Datum / Date” is printed at the top of each page too, which may put people off but suits me fine. Both notebooks have lovely paper which is a joy to write on with pencil and ballpoint. However, the Moleskine has a problem with pen ink bleeding from one side to the other, particularly with black ink, which makes the Leuchtturm a better choice for fountain pen writers. Overall, both the Moleskine and the Leuchtturm are stylish notebooks with a great feel both in the hand and under the pen. For me as a fountain pen owner, the Leuchtterm wins out by default, but the contents pages and page numbering make it my choice for those reasons too. Pencil owners and people looking for something a little neater may prefer the Moleskine. Whichever you choose, you’ll never go back.

This is my first Leuchtturm1917 - I got mine in A5 dot-grid (also a first for me) and I have to say I've fallen in love with it. The dot-grid takes a bit of getting used to, so if you've only ever used single ruled or blank paper before, give it a chance before you dismiss it! The paper isn't be-all-and-end-all quality despite many claims; you will absolutely still get ghosting unless you're using pencils or incredibly fine-nibbed pens, but even my XS Faber-Castell PITT artist pen at 0.1mm shows through. That pen is, however, intended to be permanent which could contribute to the ghosting. That being said, I've also used felt tip markers in it (going over some spots three or four times) and I've yet to see bleed-through. If you can live with ghosting, this is a fantastic notebook. There are two ribbon markers, one plain and one bi-coloured. The elastic matches the cover and is springy enough to make sure your Leuchtturm stays closed without threatening to snap at every movement. There is also a pocket on the inside of the back cover, which I am currently keeping the handily supplied Leuchtturm stickers (three square title stickers, two of which are lined and the other of which is blank, and a few spine stickers). The pages are numbered, barring the three index pages and single blank page at the beginning. The dot-grid is 5mm, which I find is pleasantly spaced for my handwriting but also means that I can fit a lot of that handwriting on one page - one of the things I dislike about cheaper ruled notebooks is that it always feels like the ruling is too far apart and I'm wasting space. All in all, if you don't mind ghosting, give this notebook a chance. It's fantastic for bullet journalers with its built-in index and page numbering, or if you're like me and want a notebook to jot down ideas as and when they appear while still being able to easily reference them, this could be worth a shot.

I bought this notebook to start my first bullet journal this year. I purchased the A5 size which fits really well into handbags. There is a ribbon bookmark attached to the pages and there is an elastic band sitting on the right-hand side to keep everything together. There is a large pocket at the back where you can store notes and stickers too which I find helpful when I attend meetings. There are almost 250 pages in this book, so if you like to bullet journal you will have a lot of space for your spreads. If not then you have a load of room for note taking and writing in general. There is also a contents page in the front so if you have any important pages throughout the notebook you can list them there and they are easy to reference rather than to flip through it blindly and start looking for it. The only con of this notebook is that the pages are a little thin. I use black fine liners and ballpoint ink pens in my notebook which automatically increases the chances of seeing the writing on the under page it's written on. The ink doesn't sink through unless you draw over the same line repeatedly but I doubt many people will do that. You can just see the faint outline of it form the next page which may bother some people. I also stick coloured card and pictures into my notebook for decoration and the pages take glue and tape very well as I've also used washi tape. I bought the Berry colour and it looks like a darkish pink. It's a lovely feminine colour and it's not too harsh as I don't like harsh pinks. The notebook appeared to be very durable and of a high quality. You are paying for something that can last and looks beautiful too. I've had some compliments on this journal since buying it. It arrived on time and I think it was fairly priced at £13. I will buy another when this one is full. Would 100% recommend.

J’adore cet article que j’achète chaque année pour réaliser mon bullet journal

LEUCHTTURM1917 est une marque que j’ai découverte en octobre dernier. Je désirais m’initier au bullet journal. 6 mois après mon premier journal Leuchtturm, je reste fidèle à la marque. Le papier est solide, des pages permettant de démarrer son BUJO y sont clairement organisées. Les pages sont numérotées et les pointillés visibles et discrets à la fois. Et la couleur est juste sublime, juste ce qu'il faut pour co-créer ma vision d'une relation de couple 6 étoiles. Tout en y calant ma semaine d’actions prioritaires, le tracking mensuel de mes choix et nouveaux rituels, les points clés des lectures de livres que je lisais, les citations qui challengent le mental et la revue de la vision que j’ai pour ma vie, j'ai fait 4 mois avec le premier journal LEUCHTTURM1917. C’est à mes yeux le meilleur investissement pour se transformer et se réinventer avec confiance et en toute introspection. Cette liberté de personnaliser le contenu de son BUJO est unique. Et puis, écrire sur un bel objet vous fait voir la vie du beau côté. Avec optimisme, un jour à la fois. Parce que votre âme le vaut bien.

Trop beau, bonne qualité

To help me reach my end of year targets, this meets the requirements

These notebooks are definitely worth the money. The notebooks are high quality, and having the numbered pages and space for index, along with built-in bookmarks make this the perfect notebook.