A new notebook has hit the market: The Leuchtturm 1917 notebook with 411 pages!
And as Moleskine has an expanded version with 400 pages I would like to make a short comparison between these two hardcover notebooks.
Leuchtturm 1917 411:
roughly A5 size
outside 148x208 mm
inside paper size 143x204mm
spine thickness 26mm
2 page markers
pocket at the back
80 gsm
411 pages
Moleskine Expanded:
roughly A5 size
outside 132x211mm
inside paper size 127x207mm
spine thickness 23mm
2 page markers
pocket at the back
70 gsm
400 pages
These notebooks are very similar, the Moleskine is slimmer in width than the Leuchtturm and only a tiny bit higher. The height difference is not very noticable, the width more. The difference is about 15mm.
The Leuchtturm notebook is available with a hardover, in 4 colours and in blank, lined and dot grid.
The Moleskine Expanded is available with a hardcover and softcover, in black and in blank, lined, dot grid and grid.
Both notebooks open up flat and stay open. The longer you use them the better the "flatability".
ok, so far the hard facts about these two notebooks. Now we go to the behaviour of the paper, which, for me, is very important because I use these notebooks together with fountain pens.
I can already hear you: "how can you use a Moleskine with fountain pens!! That paper is horrible!"
And yes, in the past I have bought a Moleskine once and never again, the paper was horrible with fountain pens, feathering and so much bleeding.
But, and this is a big BUT: they have changed the paper!! And this comes as a big surprise: it is now fountain pen friendly!
I was always wondering when I saw that they now have a partnership with Kaweco and were promoting their fountain pens in order to use them in the notebooks. I just thought, yes sure, how can you do that with your horrible paper?
But then I saw the youtube videos of Seaweed Kisses where she was talking about the Moleskine Expanded notebooks and that she tried to find out how to distinguish the good and bad paper, and I was thinking, well, maybe they really have changed something.
I bought the Moleskine Expanded and a daily planner and yes, you can use fountain pens now! No bleeding, no feathering.
I have no idea if they changed the paper in all of their notebooks and planners, and which version you might get when you order one. I guess there are still old ones being sold.
And therefore now the comparison of the paper
The colour of the paper of both is a light cream, Leuchturm calls it "chamois". I like it, easy on the eyes and not as bright as the white paper of Archer&Olive for example.
The Leuchtturm paper feels smoother to the touch than the Moleskine paper and this is the one big difference which makes me like the Leuchtturm paper more.
Due to the smoothness the lines of the ink in a Leuchtturm are more crisp, they do not have edges.
There is no feathering on Moleskine paper, maybe a tiny tiny bit with J Herbin Rouge Opera, but you can only see this due to the close up view.
But there are these rough edges of the lines due to the paper.
The lines on Leuchtturm paper look crisp, smooth edges and you can even see a bit of shading, for example with the J Herbin Corail De Tropiques.
The paper of Moleskine is a bit "harder", not as "soft" as the Leuchturm one. The lines on Moleskine paper therefore look thinner. A B nib line looks more like an M nib line, BB more like B.
For example at the top, written with FountainFeder Nordsee ink, with a BB nib. There is a thicker line on Leuchtturm than on Moleskine.
I have the feeling that inks on Leuchtturm paper look a bit brighter than on Moleskine paper.
I do not use shimmering inks, I can therefore not compare them.
Shading of normal inks is a bit more on Leuchtturm than on Moleskine.
Drying time is about the same, maybe a tiny bit faster on Moleskine.
The ghosting on Leuchtturm paper is a tiny bit more than on Moleskine paper. Quite interesting, as Leuchtturm has 80gsm and Moleskine 70.
And I have the feeling that Moleskine paper picks up the oil of your hands a lot. The lines are getting thinner and more edged the more you get to the bottom of a page. Your writing starts to look differently than at the top of the page.
On Leuchtturm paper no problem, everything looks the same at the top or at the bottom of a page.
my conclusion:
Leuchtturm paper is still my favorite paper and will happily use the 411 pages for my daily journaling!
But, even Moleskine paper can now be used with fountain pens, you do not have to suffer through feathering and bleeding anymore!
Thank you to all and (planner) peace to everyone!
Andrea ❤🖋
P.S. inks used in this test.
Pelikan Edelstein: Sapphire and Garnet
Faber Castell: Gulf Blue and Electric Pink
Landolt & Arbenz (Swiss company): Light Grey, Flieder and Light Blue
Tom`s Studio: Raspberry Sorbet, Marianas and Sunny Teal
Iroshizuku: Yama Budo
Montblanc: Unicef, Daniel Defoe, Beatles and Homer
Pelikan 4001: red and green
J Herbin: Gris Nuage, Rose Tendresse, Corail Des Tropiques, Rouge Opera, Diabolo Menthe, Vert Reseda
FountainFeder: Nordsee and Schietwetter
Diamine: Imperial Purple
Rohrer + Klingner: Helianthus, Königsblau and Magenta
Kaweco: Royal Blue
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