I’ve been intrigued by the Leuchtturm brand of notebooks ever since spotting them online, I forget where. As of a few months ago, they didn’t have a US distributor, but they are now working with Kikkerland, and their products are starting to show up at retailers, including Journaling Arts. All products listed here.
Oh no!! More notebooks to try.
These were recently reviewed by the Pen Addict here:
http://www.penaddict.com/2009/06/review-leuchtturm-pocket-lined-journal.html
They look great and I am sorely tempted to give them a try.
A local stationery shop will begin selling these in August. I am keenly interested in giving them a try.
I found these also on sale at the site below. More expensive than at Journaling Arts, but it looks like they have some in stock:
http://www.organize.com/ruled-pocket-book-leuchtturm-1917.html
I can also recommend another notebook this web site carries, the Walden Journal from Design Ideas:
http://www.organize.com/walden-lined-journal-large-black-design-ideas.html
Just got my first @ Powell’s in Portland; it’s NICE. A bit wider than the similar Moleskine, with numbered pages (!?); table of contents, all sorts of label options. Paper takes ink nicely, has a ‘slicker’ feel than Moleskine.
Not sure what I’ll do with the perforated detachable pages. Time will tell!
Got mine from REVDESIGNS. Excellent customer service.
Great little notebooks. Really looking forward to starting one as soon as my current molie grid is full.
UPDATE: The penaddict review (above) sums the features and paper quality. I am only about 15 pages into my first pocket notebook. The paper is fun to write on. I am using Sheaffer fountain pens with various nibs and colors. Some bleed through, others do not. The line spacing is comfortable for my hand with a fine nib but I must skip a line when using the italic and medium nibs. The Leucht. is slightly larger than the molie form factor and the cover material feels better than a molie. It’s a weird sensation but the Leucht. just feels like a higher quality notebook than Moleskine. The added coolness and conveniences of the contents page, numbered leaves, and labels makes it a great value. If Leuchtturm notebooks were bound in unusual Euro-inspired colors, I’d dump my red-bound molie fixation like the bad habit it has become.
My opinion: Great value, construction, concept, and components make Leuchtturm products a viable alternative and REVDESIGN is an excellent mailorder source.
david boise ID
UPDATE #2 includes warnings:
I’ve retired my first Leuchtturm pocket-sized notebook. A quality product and I’ve really enjoyed using it. The page numbers and table of contents are subtle features that every notebook publisher should include. I have three more Leuchs on the shelf but the next one will be filled using a PENCIL.
I’ve got some warnings for anyone who might be considering purchasing Leuchtturm notebooks.
1. The paper is thirsty! It will suck ink from your pen, spread it, and let it bleed through so thoroughly that it not only makes the reverse side unusable, the ink can even blot onto the next page. If you expect to use both sides of each leaf, you simply cannot use your fountain pens or any ink/nib combination that resembles fountain pen delivery. Sharpie pens (not their markers) work well; so do many gel and roller pens. You will want to test your favorite writing instrument s.
(Thirsty paper is not necessarily a bad thing. I enjoy using only the right side of each spread.)
2.The last 60 or so pages are perforated for removal. I quickly filled all of these pages with drawings but if you’re journaling on both sides of the leaves, and flipping through the book over a period of few weeks, the perfs could fail and the pages separate out of the book.
3. The Leuchtturm pocket size notebook is just a wee bit larger than the standard Moleskine form factor. It will not fit into some leather covers like the products from Gfellers Casemakers.
david boise ID
UPDATE #3:
http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/137533-leuchtturm-notebooks/
(Scroll to the second page of the thread to see photos of the [ink proof] icon)
Turns out there are two versions of Leuchtturm products available in the States: old stock—with really sucky paper (literally, the paper sucks the ink from your nib)—and new stock that has a little “ink proof” icon in the lower right corner of the paper band.
If you are ordering Leuchtturm products, be sure to specify the newer, ink-proof stock.
I’m not saying I got ripped off at REVDESIGNS but you must be aware most retailers are going to dump their old stock if they can.
The users at say the newer paper stock is much better. They ought to know.
david boise ID
sorry i missed you at the BookExpo (LEUCHTTURM1917)…there’s been a few updates to the quality as of about 6 months ago… i found some online sellers are selling the older version – so do ask about that…we sell them on our website, but it would be great for folks to support their local bookstores. the company in Germany is great to work with…family run for 90years except for a stint during the war. they were mainly producing coin, stamp and archiving materials, it made sense for them to start making finely built notebooks. i am a bit bias as i’m in charge of distributing to US, Canada, and So.America truth be told. but i couldn’t offer something i didn’t love/believe in. kikkerland’s purpose is to find well made design and make it available in the states. preferably it’s the user that should offer the best opinion. i’m happy to answer any questions. i’m also looking to replace any of the old versions with new versions to shops if they will donate them to a local writing workshop for kids or folks at risk, etc… like 826National or Writegirl in Los Angeles.
fun site…i’m a notebook addict for more than 20 years. i’m personally fond of many notebooks out there rhodia, miguelruis, ciak, muji…
cheers -LK
Leuchtturm1917 Germany updated their website
http://www.leuchtturm1917.com/
Sorry to jump into this old thread, but now that the Leuchtturm 1917 notebooks have been available in the U.S. for a while, I have a question: Has anyone been able to find the medium-size notebooks (about 5.5″ x 8.5″) with plain pages and the colorful covers, especially pink, in the U.S.? I’ve seen them on European websites, but not on any U.S. sites or stores. I recently bought purple and green with the dotted pages, and I like them a lot (Dare I say it? Finally a worthy competitor to Moleskine?). Would love a pink one and any color with plain pages. If you have any leads, would love to know about them.
– Tina
UPDATE #4 (June 08, 2011)
I’ve recently started using my second Leuchtterm pocket-sized notebook that was purchased before the new series of pen friendly papers became available. The first 60 pages were great fun but suddenly the calendering on the paper changed . It sucks. Literally. The paper draws ink out of my fountain pens like a sponge; feathers, bleeds, soaks through–it’s awful. And it’s sucking my pens dry in about half the number of words I’d usually get out of a load of ink.
the page numbering and table of contents do not make up for lousy quality control.
david boise ID
also Japanese notebooks are gorgeous, from many places online; here is one: http://www.tokyopenshop.com. In NYC that big Japanese bookstore in Rock Center – Kinokunia? – sell a lot of different ones.
So true Vincent—try Cadics Note GX….don’t know if they are still available but I filled a couple dozen…used to get them in NYC at Kates Paperie….