(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)
Over the past five years or so, I've collected numerous Leuchtturm notebooks of various sizes, colors, and paper types. I'm a big fan of the notebooks and use them as part of my job to take notes and keep on top of projects. Despite owning several and having almost an entire shelf dedicated to full notebooks, I've never tried their Composition notebook.
The Composition notebook is a softcover notebook that's a bit larger than the standard A5 notebooks they offer. Leuchtturm calls it a Slim B5, and that's a perfect description. It's a 10" x 7" notebook with all the niceties you've come to expect from Leuchtturm. As far as I can tell, the only thing missing in these notebooks is the inclusion of a "Date" line at the top of each page. Instead, each page is simply full-bleed dots, lines, or plain paper.
The soft cover is also a really nice touch considering the size of this notebook. I can imagine that a hardcover book might be a bit harder to handle and pack than the malleable softcover on the Composition notebook, and I'm already a big fan of the A5 softcover notebooks.
With 121 sheets, there's plenty of space to write, draw, doodle, and dream for quite a while. The paper is the standard 80 gsm that you'll find in any Leuchtturm notebook, and it handles different ink types fairly well. Fountain pens with larger nibs do tend to show through a bit on the back of the page, but it's not so bad as to prevent me from using the back page for most things. As far as bleeding and feathering, I've never had any issues with that regardless of pen and ink combo.
As you might expect, the Composition book also has a convenient pair of ribbon bookmarks that are color coordinated with the cover, and you also have a matching elastic closure band to keep the notebook closed when not in use.
Leuchtturm also includes a large pocket in the back that contains an assortment of label stickers and some literature about the brand. I normally store this stuff in the back pocket in case I need it, but you could certainly toss them if you don't think they'll be useful for you.
The front of the notebook contains a front page for you to write your personal information, and it also contains a few pages for a table of contents or an index based on the page numbers. And yes, all the pages are numbered in this notebook, making it easy to keep track of where things are.
Another thing I love about this notebook is the number of options you have when purchasing one. You have an assortment of colors to decide on, and you also have your pick of plain, dotted, or ruled paper with each color. The best way to view all the available colors is to check online, but you can usually find Black, Anthracite, Pink, Nordic Blue, Navy, Orange, Army, Azure, Berry, Emerald, Fresh Green, Ice Blue, Red, and Sand. Phew. What a list.
Finally, at just under $24, the Composition notebook is a great value considering the size, paper quality, and page count. These are high-quality notebooks that will suite you well, regardless of what your pen of choice happens to be this month. If you're in the market for a larger notebook, you can't go wrong with the Leuchtturm1917 Softcover Composition notebook.
(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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