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#1 in Best Premium Notebooks

LEUCHTTURM1917 Notebook Hardcover Medium A5-251 Numbered Pages for Writing and Journaling (Navy, Ruled) The Forest Stewardship…

LEUCHTTURM1917

Best for

Best overall

Amazon rating

★★★★★4.7(35,248)

Amazon aggregate, one input among many in the Verdict Score

Verdict scoreExcellent
90/ 100

Based on 2 trusted sources

Current price

$25.50

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Updated May 18, 2026 · 1 min read

LEUCHTTURM1917 Notebook Hardcover Medium A5-251 Numbered Pages for Writing and Journaling (Navy, Ruled) The Forest Stewardship…

Sources behind this verdict

10 reviewers weighted by source trust

Methodology →

The consensus

What reviewers found

Synthesized across the trust-weighted source mix below.

Across the reviewers we read, the Leuchtturm1917 A5 Hardcover is the default 'premium notebook' recommendation — the one that other notebooks get compared to. Jetpens.com (high-trust specialist retailer) describes it as a 'fountain pen friendly alternative with a good cover, nice paper, and a quality feel,' and the consensus on r/notebooks and r/fountainpens echoes that: durable hardcover, numbered pages, a table of contents, and paper that handles most fountain pens with manageable ghosting. The disagreement is worth naming honestly.

What reviewers liked

  • Jetpens.com and r/notebooks consensus highlight durable hardcover construction and a thoughtful feature set (numbered pages, index, two ribbons, perforated rear sheets)
  • Massive verified-purchase sample (35k+ reviews at 4.7) corroborates long-term reliability
  • r/fountainpens regulars report minimal bleed-through with most inks, light ghosting at worst
  • Wide range of colors, rulings (dotted, ruled, squared, blank), and cover formats

Where it falls short

  • r/Journaling and some community reviewers find the 80gsm paper too thin and 'plastic-feeling' for the price
  • Ghosting is real with wet fountain pen nibs — multiple high-trust community threads acknowledge it
  • At ~$25 it's not cheap, and reviewers note cheaper 100gsm notebooks can outperform on ghosting alone
  • Standard 80gsm version pushes heavy fountain pen users toward the more expensive 120gsm edition

Across the reviews

Synthesis · not our verdict

Across the reviewers we read, the Leuchtturm1917 A5 Hardcover is the default 'premium notebook' recommendation — the one that other notebooks get compared to. Jetpens.com (high-trust specialist retailer) describes it as a 'fountain pen friendly alternative with a good cover, nice paper, and a quality feel,' and the consensus on r/notebooks and r/fountainpens echoes that: durable hardcover, numbered pages, a table of contents, and paper that handles most fountain pens with manageable ghosting.

The disagreement is worth naming honestly. A vocal r/Journaling thread complains that the 80gsm paper feels 'more like plastic than paper' and shows more see-through than cheaper 100gsm options, and mountainofink.com's writeup is more measured about the paper than the features. Most high-trust community sources push back on this — r/fountainpens regulars repeatedly call the paper 'somewhat toothy' and 'beautiful to write on' — but if you write with very wet nibs, the 120gsm Special Edition is the more common recommendation.

What tips this to best-overall is breadth: 35,000+ verified-purchase reviews at 4.7 stars, durable construction that holds up to daily carry per r/notebooks, and a feature set (index, numbered pages, two ribbons, elastic, perforated rear sheets) that no other notebook in this pool matches at the price.

Key specs

Source: Amazon listing
The A5 MEDIUM notebooks are the perfect size with a wide range of colors making them ideal companions for all walks of life — this notebook series is perfect for midnight ramblings, daily entries, thoughtful reflection, careful chronicling and illuminating life stories
Thread-bound to open flat which helps make reading the contents easy and adds efficiency to note-taking
Features 80g/m² acid-free paper with high ink compatibility to help prevent bleed through, an expandable gusseted pocket on the back cover, 2 page markers / bookmarks and an elastic closure band
Includes 251 numbered pages or our signature 80gsm with 8 perforated detachable sheets, a blank table of contents for easy organization and notes, also includes stickers for labeling and archiving
Durable hardcover notebook in a lovely color with FSC MIX paper made from responsible sources — measures approximately 5¾ inches by 8¼ inches (145x210 mm)

What customers say

2 verified voices
They are very durable, well manufactured, really nice and somewhat toothy paper, and they have neat features like a table of contents, numbered ...
Trustedvia r/fountainpens
Leuchtturm 1917 Notebook Bullet Journal Review + Pen Test · 1. 0 ; New to the Notebooks game and bought myself the Leuchtturm1917 (A5 Classic) · 28.
Trustedvia r/notebooks

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Video review

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Leuchtturm1917 Hardcover Notebook Review” · YouTube

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