A few weeks ago someone brought an ancient thread about journals back from the dead, and I posted a reply in said thread. I mentioned that I had just ordered a Leuchtturm 1917 pocket sized notebook, and promised to provide a writing sample. I am very new to the whole fountain pen and paper scene, and won't even attempt to do a detailed review. That said, I can say with clarity and definiteness that I like the Leuchtturm much better than the Moleskine based on one page of writing samples. I also like the "features" of the Leuchtturm (page numbers, table of contents, labeling stickers, "Date" legend on each page) because I'm anal retentive.
I don't have many fountain pens or inks, and I've never tried any of the "good" paper that fountain pen experts know about. So this post is simply a side by side comparison of quick writing samples using these fountain pens: Pilot Varsity (Medium nib, red ink); Lamy Vista (Extra Fine, Lamy blue ink cartridge); and Pelikan M205 (Extra Fine, Sailor Jentle Sky High ink). You can judge the results for yourself. If the pictures do not show the samples well enough, let me be the judge . . . the Moleskine exhibits more ink spread, more feathering (especially with the Varsity and Pelikan pens), and way more bleed/show through (note that the back side scan of the Leuchtturm is not accurate - there is no bleeding but in reality I can see all of the writing from the back side. In fact, the stark white scan is totally misleading and now I wonder if I accidentally left an extra page behind the written page, so meh). Personally, the bleed through doesn't really bother me that much because I don't usually write on both sides of the page.
I hope this is useful, helpful, and/or interesting. The first image shows the samples themselves, and the second image shows the bleed/show on the back side of the pages. In the first image, you can also see some bleed/show from my previous page (all written with the Pelikan).
So, when I preview this post, the pictures are a little small. I don't know if this site allows links to imgur, but if so, try these links to view larger sizes:
http://imgur.com/H83sz
http://imgur.com/2NN86
I don't have many fountain pens or inks, and I've never tried any of the "good" paper that fountain pen experts know about. So this post is simply a side by side comparison of quick writing samples using these fountain pens: Pilot Varsity (Medium nib, red ink); Lamy Vista (Extra Fine, Lamy blue ink cartridge); and Pelikan M205 (Extra Fine, Sailor Jentle Sky High ink). You can judge the results for yourself. If the pictures do not show the samples well enough, let me be the judge . . . the Moleskine exhibits more ink spread, more feathering (especially with the Varsity and Pelikan pens), and way more bleed/show through (note that the back side scan of the Leuchtturm is not accurate - there is no bleeding but in reality I can see all of the writing from the back side. In fact, the stark white scan is totally misleading and now I wonder if I accidentally left an extra page behind the written page, so meh). Personally, the bleed through doesn't really bother me that much because I don't usually write on both sides of the page.
I hope this is useful, helpful, and/or interesting. The first image shows the samples themselves, and the second image shows the bleed/show on the back side of the pages. In the first image, you can also see some bleed/show from my previous page (all written with the Pelikan).
So, when I preview this post, the pictures are a little small. I don't know if this site allows links to imgur, but if so, try these links to view larger sizes:
http://imgur.com/H83sz
http://imgur.com/2NN86
