Leuchtturm1917 Master & Medium Journals Review (with Rhodia Webnotebook comparisons)

[Ondina]

I'm jealous! My Master's performance is drastically inferior. I wouldn't mind bleedthrough that much, but the problem is that the spots where the ink bleeds through, show up even on the front of the page. Even inks such as Apache sunset look kind of ugly...

Both Master's and medium ones I got last Dic. with the latest paper label in the front cover, bleeded through and made impossible to use the back of the page. As yours, it sometimes even stained the next one. Some inks were ore prone than others but in general, and despite the careful marketing of the journals, I would not buy them again to be used with fountain pens.

Thank you for the review, OP, very pleasant to read and with nice photos.

[Faustine]

What a fantastic review! Especially the thorough and detailed pics. Thanks for sharing your observations. I've really been on the fence about getting this notebook. But after seeing how thin the paper was in person, and reading your reviews, I think I'll have to pass on this one.

[HeresyHammer]

I have the Leuchtturm Master and I love it. The paper is thinker than in the medium as is shown in halidak's OP. I think what does it for me is the shear size of the notebook. If you want a notebook, buy a Rhodia; if you want a tome, buy the Leuchtturm 1917 Master. The Master is ginormagantuan in comparison to many other notebooks on the market. (Except perhaps the Rhodia N*38.) When open this monster devours my the desk real-estate. However, I did have to make a concession. Because the quality of paper isn't the up to "Rhodia Standard", I only use my dryer fountain pens on it. The ruling, the page numbers, the index, the sticker labels and the size are all fantastic and I will buy another one of the Masters when or rather "IF" I ever fill it up.

On another and off topic note: The fountain pen community really should create a measuring standard knowns at the RS, Rhodia Standard. We can post reviews of notebooks with RS1-10. One being the farthest from Rhodia and 10 being the closest. I'm just being facetious, but really, almost every review compares notebooks to Rhodia so there must be consensus about that. It's the gold standard and for good reason.

[snedwos]

I'm jealous! My Master's performance is drastically inferior. I wouldn't mind bleedthrough that much, but the problem is that the spots where the ink bleeds through, show up even on the front of the page. Even inks such as Apache sunset look kind of ugly...

Both Master's and medium ones I got last Dic. with the latest paper label in the front cover, bleeded through and made impossible to use the back of the page. As yours, it sometimes even stained the next one. Some inks were ore prone than others but in general, and despite the careful marketing of the journals, I would not buy them again to be used with fountain pens.

Thank you for the review, OP, very pleasant to read and with nice photos.

Maybe it's the Spanish market ones that are inferior. I bought mine at El Corte Inglés. (Not the most sensible source, I know -- they sell *above* MSRP!!!)