I begged my parents for a Mead Composition Book. "What about a spiral notebook? We have a dozen in the closet." My mom clearly didn't understand the severity of the issue. Harriet the Spy didn't write in one of those dime-store spiral notebooks, the ones that they stack up in huge pallets during the Back to School sales at Walmart. She wrote in a Mead Composition Book. Sure, they were a dollar or two, but you can't put a price on keeping the neighborhood safe, or surveilling strategic targets.
My relationship with composition books lasted for several years. I covered each book with a homemade label that said "Private" and filled several books with journal entries, observations, and other personal notes. This was more than a school notebook; it was my companion - an integral part of my daily adventures.
It's been nearly two decades since I felt this fondly for notebooks, which rapidly became cheap commodities in my life. I reached for the cheapest spiral notebooks that I could find during my college years and would often leave them half empty. This changed when I discovered fountain pens, which required higher quality paper. The Midori Traveler's Notebook became my goto, but its skinny pages, while perfect for travel, were just too small for daily use. I loved the appearance of Moleskines, but their elegance was only surface deep. Moleskines stink with fountain pens. The search for a similar form factor brought me to the Leuchtturm1917.
Leuchtturm1917 notebooks come in a range of sizes, colors and rulings. I chose the 249-page orange A5 size with dotted pages. The notebook's hard cover is reminiscent of a Moleskine's cover. Theres an elastic band that wraps around the notebook, to keep it closed. The band seems sturdy enough to stand up to regular wear and tear, and I've carried my notebook loose in a messenger bag for several months, with no damage to the elastic band.
The interior of the Leuchtturm1917 boasts some useful features. The notebook has two bookmark ribbons, with color accents that match the color of the notebook. I can keep a few business and index cards in the built in pocket of the notebook, which runs the length and width of the back cover. The pocket is made from sturdy card-stock and accordions out, to reveal its content. The pocket isn't going to hold dozens of papers, but it's useful for holding a few odds and ends. The notebook also includes archival stickers for the spine and covers, so that you can keep track of exactly what's inside your notebook.
My Leuchtturm1917 lives in my messenger bag and accompanies me to daily meetings and events. The notebook lays flat on a table, without creasing or weighing down the pages. This was a pleasant surprise, moving from the Midori Traveler's Notebook, which flips shut without weights and doesn't sit flat on the table. I prefer to use the Leuchtturm1917 on a table, but it also works well in my lap, due to the support of the hard cover.
The small touches and thoughtful design of the Leuchtturm1917 make it a delight to use, but these flourishes are pointless without high-quality paper. Fortunately, the notebook delivers, with an 80 g/sqm paper that really shines with fountain pen ink. The juicy-fine nib of my Lamy 2000 leaves a lot of ink on the page, but there's never visible bleed through on the other side of the page. The dot pattern is subtle, but provides much needed guidance for writing and sketching.
I feel the same way using the Leuchtturm1917 as I did when I used a Mead Composition Book during my childhood. Sure, these notebooks are about as different as two notebooks could be, but the feeling they give is the same. The Leuchtturm1917 feels like it was made for me. It makes none of the sacrifices that Moleskines make, and it performs perfectly with my favorite fountain pens. I can see myself with a shelf full of these things in a few years, just as I had a shelf full of spy notebooks a few decades ago.