Search the Community

The Paper Plane – Miquelrius 1839 Soft recycled leather notebook I've been enjoying this little corner of the web for some time now, mainly focusing on inks and pens. But these are more or less useless without the humble paper or notebook that will let you capture your thoughts. So here comes the "Paper Plane", where I review some of the paper and notebooks that I've enjoyed using over the years. Today's guest: Miquelrius 1839 Soft recycled leather notebook. I recently bought a couple of Miquelrius notebooks at a local warehouse. Miquelrius is a Spanish company that produces high quality paperware, but in this case I got me the eco-friendly edition: a soft-cover notebook containing 200 pages of 80 gsm 100% recycled paper. The covers have a nice look and feel, and they too are made from recycled leather (75% leather fibers + 25% natural latex). A nice feature of the Miquelrius notebook is that it opens fairly flat, making it easier to write in. The notebook has a very minimalistic style: a textured but plain cover, containing the pages that are glued to the spine – that’s basically it. On the backside the non-obtrusive branding mentioning “Miquelrius 1839”. The one remaining question: can this notebook be used successfully with fountain pens? For the test, I used a number of different pens and inks – covering the complete range from wet to dry. I also did some ink swabs with a cotton Q-tip. The recycled paper handled the ink quite well. There’s almost no visible feathering – you need to look very closely to find a few occurrences where light feathering is present. What I really like is the way inks look on this paper – ink colours are expressed quite beautifully. That’s a big plus! But… turn the page, and you’ll see the downside of recycled paper. It is very absorbent, and there is quite a lot of see-through and bleed-through. When using a fountain pen with this notebook, you won’t be able to used the backside of the pages. Conclusion This Miquelrius notebook with 80 gsm recycled paper is an eco-friendly version of their higher-end notebooks. Unfortunately, inks exhibit excessive see-through and bleed-through, which makes this notebook unsuitable for use with fountain pens. Which is a pity, because inks look really beautiful on this recycled paper. In my opinion, this is a ballpoint-only notebook, which might be a good alternative for the more well-known Moleskine.

Who knew? Not me anyway. In searching for a reasonably prices fp friendly A5 notebook/journal I came across the Basicos brand on Amazon (UK) 300 Sheets for £18 – that’s 0.03 pence per page! At that price, with few reviews, it couldn’t be much good. Could it? So I went off in search of something better. Clairefontaine, Seven Seas, Taroko etc. All of which I enjoy using. Recently deciding to do a Morning Pages – scribbling off three pages of stream of consciousness first thing in the am, never to be read again, and certainly not for showing to others, I decided to use a lower cost A5. Looking though bookmarked sites I decided to give a red Basicos Flexible Skin a try. Imagine my suprise as it emerges from the Amazon cardboard envelope and I see Miquelrius, Made in Spain, Leather Collection on the paper band on the cover. 70 gsm. Had I taken the time to zoom over the image on the Amazon page prior to purchase, this would have been evident from the beginning. Spiral bound 200 sheets for £8 too. I’m probably the last person on earth to figure this out. But just in case .......

I decided that I would go through all of my paper and make a big review post. For me as usual I feel the most important part are the visuals which I will embed though the post, but are also all in my gallery here: Gallery The whole post is a little photo heavy and all of them you can click through to a larger photo on the blog. I ran out of steam as I was typing this up so I have not at this point added written commentary on feathering or a couple other attributes though you should get some idea from the photos. Eventually it might also be nice to get scans of all of them, but that would definitively be for another day. Here are all the books covered: http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-p8hzwLc/0/L/i-p8hzwLc-L.jpg Paper Size Weight Lines Sheets Cost Binding HP Premium Laserjet 32 lb Letter 120 GSM Blank 500 Sheets $16.54 @ Amazon Looseleaf Leuchtturm1917 Hard Cover Large Black A5 80 GSM Lined 5mm 1 Blank Sheet - 2 Contents Sheets - 8 Removable Sheets - 117 Sheets $16.54 @ Amazon Bound Hardcover Journal w/Extras Kokuyo Campus CYO-BO GC3A B5 100 GSM Lined 7mm 30 Sheets $3.35 @ Maido Sewn Softcover Rhodia Block Nº16 A5 80 GSM Lined 7mm 80 Sheets $5.50 @ Goulet Staple Bound Pad Clearprint Vellum - Grid - Pocket Size ~A7 60 GSM Grid 2.5mm 50 Sheets $4.45 @ Flax Art Glue Bound Notebook Miquelrius MR Flexible Journal ~A7 70 GSM Lined 7mm 64 Sheets $5.95 @ Flax Art Sewn Notebook w/ Leatheret Cover Maruman Boston Note A5 & B5 100 GSM Lined 8mm (A5) & Lined 9mm (B5) 65 Sheets $19.50 (A5) & $23.00 (B5) @ Jetpens Twin Ring Notebook Maruman Mnemosyne Inspiration A5 80 GSM Blank 70 Sheets $16.00 @ Jetpens Twin Ring Notebook w/Perforated Pages HP Premium Laserjet 32 lb http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-T6bTPbW/0/L/i-T6bTPbW-L.jpg http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-875PTLs/0/L/i-875PTLs-L.jpg http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-jnBFWWp/0/L/i-jnBFWWp-L.jpg http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-M9bn4km/0/L/i-M9bn4km-L.jpg Paper Size Weight Lines Sheets Cost Binding HP Premium Laserjet 32 lb Letter 120 GSM Blank 500 Sheets $16.54 @ Amazon Looseleaf Bleedthrough - Effectivly None -- Took 8 pass Figure 8 to cause it.Ghosting/Shadowing/Showthrough -- MinimalTexture -- Super Smooth & Kinda Glassy Maruman Boston Note http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-Rrq7K5V/0/L/i-Rrq7K5V-L.jpg http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-vsFRzbs/0/L/i-vsFRzbs-L.jpg http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-rCbBqDb/0/L/i-rCbBqDb-L.jpg http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-s8XHMGG/0/L/i-s8XHMGG-L.jpg http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-dmfFjCs/0/L/i-dmfFjCs-L.jpg Paper Size Weight Lines Sheets Cost Binding Maruman Boston Note A5 & B5 100 GSM Lined 8mm (A5) & Lined 9mm (B5) 65 Sheets $19.50 (A5) & $23.00 (B5) @ Jetpens Twin Ring Notebook Bleedthrough - Effectivly None -- Took 8 pass Figure 8 to cause it.Ghosting/Shadowing/Showthrough -- MinimalTexture -- Smooth but textured Rhodia Block Nº16 http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-N5HgB4s/0/L/i-N5HgB4s-L.jpg http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-LM6QdMJ/0/L/i-LM6QdMJ-L.jpg http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-V9LfpQR/0/L/i-V9LfpQR-L.jpg http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-HjN8rW7/0/L/i-HjN8rW7-L.jpg http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-PNV4zdX/0/L/i-PNV4zdX-L.jpg Paper Size Weight Lines Sheets Cost Binding Rhodia Block Nº16 A5 80 GSM Lined 7mm 80 Sheets $5.50 @ Goulet Staple Bound Pad Bleedthrough - Effectivly None -- Took 8 pass Figure 8 to cause it.Ghosting/Shadowing/Showthrough -- MinimalTexture -- Glassy but not as much as the Laserjet Clearprint Vellum - Grid - Pocket Size http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-G4BcKQW/0/L/i-G4BcKQW-L.jpg http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-Zrwh9LB/0/L/i-Zrwh9LB-L.jpg http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-MsQFnGM/0/L/i-MsQFnGM-L.jpg http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-Q6dsp3Z/0/L/i-Q6dsp3Z-L.jpg http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-SrVC4tG/0/L/i-SrVC4tG-L.jpg http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-BHjs9Hc/0/L/i-BHjs9Hc-L.jpg Paper Size Weight Lines Sheets Cost Binding Clearprint Vellum - Grid - Pocket Size ~A7 60 GSM Grid 2.5mm 50 Sheets $4.45 @ Flax Art Glue Bound Notebook Bleedthrough - Effectivly None -- Took 5 pass Figure 8 to cause it.Ghosting/Shadowing/Showthrough -- Very HighTexture -- Smooth(Not Shown in Photos) Grid is printed on backside of pages, doesn't accept ink Kokuyo Campus CYO-BO http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-Z673Xq8/0/L/i-Z673Xq8-L.jpg http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-LV6FrDb/0/L/i-LV6FrDb-L.jpg http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-jVhGBC8/0/L/i-jVhGBC8-L.jpg http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-N2MntX6/0/L/i-N2MntX6-L.jpg http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-2GPqwvr/0/L/i-2GPqwvr-L.jpg Paper Size Weight Lines Sheets Cost Binding Kokuyo Campus CYO-BO GC3A B5 100 GSM Lined 7mm 30 Sheets $3.35 @ Maido Sewn Softcover Bleedthrough - Effectivly None -- Barely Bleeding at 8 PassesGhosting/Shadowing/Showthrough -- SlightTexture -- Super Glassy Miquelrius MR Flexible Journal http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-qL7x7KN/0/L/i-qL7x7KN-L.jpg http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-KzLt9c4/0/L/i-KzLt9c4-L.jpg http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-Kf23hQz/0/L/i-Kf23hQz-L.jpg http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-mP6BHMb/0/L/i-mP6BHMb-L.jpg http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-khJzJPC/0/L/i-khJzJPC-L.jpg Paper Size Weight Lines Sheets Cost Binding Miquelrius MR Flexible Journal ~A7 70 GSM Lined 7mm 64 Sheets $5.95 @ Flax Art Sewn Notebook w/ Leatheret Cover Bleedthrough - Effectivly None -- ModerateGhosting/Shadowing/Showthrough -- ModerateTexture -- Smooth but more textured than the others Maruman Mnemosyne Inspiration http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-6CcpSKL/0/L/i-6CcpSKL-L.jpg http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-mFgbHDX/0/L/i-mFgbHDX-L.jpg http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-pThcPHz/0/L/i-pThcPHz-L.jpg http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-4f6qg3x/0/L/i-4f6qg3x-L.jpg http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-nvJkbxp/0/L/i-nvJkbxp-L.jpg Paper Size Weight Lines Sheets Cost Binding Maruman Mnemosyne Inspiration A5 80 GSM Blank 70 Sheets $16.00 @ Jetpens Twin Ring Notebook w/Perforated Pages Bleedthrough - Effectivly None -- Effectively NoneGhosting/Shadowing/Showthrough -- MinimalTexture -- Smoother than Rhodia but not as glassy Leuchtturm1917 Hardcover Large http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-bz8kk8q/0/L/i-bz8kk8q-L.jpg http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-mFJ6F6G/0/L/i-mFJ6F6G-L.jpg http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-BdzpbVd/0/L/i-BdzpbVd-L.jpg http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-W2cksLj/0/L/i-W2cksLj-L.jpg http://photos.cpride.net/photos/i-DwL9Hv4/0/L/i-DwL9Hv4-L.jpg Paper Size Weight Lines Sheets Cost Binding Leuchtturm1917 Hard Cover Large Black A5 80 GSM Lined 5mm 1 Blank Sheet - 2 Contents Sheets - 8 Removable Sheets - 117 Sheets $16.54 @ Amazon Bound Hardcover Journal w/Extras Bleedthrough - Effectivly None -- Effectively NoneGhosting/Shadowing/Showthrough -- SomeTexture -- Smooth but with some grain