LEUCHTTURM1917 Notebook B6+ Softcover Review

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Bottom line: The Leuchtturm1917 B6+ Softcover is the notebook for people who want to actually use a notebook, not display one. More features than the Moleskine, better paper, less mythology. The Rising Sun colorway is genuinely beautiful, which is a bonus you didn’t ask for and probably won’t complain about.

Scribbright Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Get the LEUCHTTURM1917 B6+ Softcover on Amazon →

Less Legend, More Logistics

Nobody famous carried a Leuchtturm1917. Or if they did, the company hasn’t made a marketing campaign out of it, which is probably the most honest thing about them. Where Moleskine sells you a notebook wrapped in the ghost of Hemingway, Leuchtturm sells you a notebook. You’ll fill it. They’ll make another one. That’s the deal.

It sounds like a downgrade. It isn’t. What you get in exchange for the missing mythology is a notebook that’s been thought through by people who actually use notebooks. Numbered pages. A table of contents. Two ribbon bookmarks instead of one. Eight perforated, detachable sheets for when you need to tear something out without wrecking the spine. A label sticker for the cover and spine so you can find it on a shelf six months later without opening every black book you own. Though you could always order this in my favorite, “rising sun” orange. Or lilac. Or…you get it.

These aren’t luxury features. They’re obvious things that most notebooks just don’t seem to bother with. Leuchtturm bothered.

The B6+ Format

The B6+ sits between Leuchtturm’s pocket A6 and the standard medium A5, and it’s a more useful size than it sounds. At 5″ x 7.5″, it’s large enough to write on without feeling cramped, small enough to carry in a jacket pocket or a bag without thinking about it. The softcover makes it lighter and more flexible than a hardcover of comparable size — you can fold it back on itself when you’re writing standing up, which the Moleskine hardcover will not tolerate.

If you’ve bounced between notebooks that are too big for carry and too small for writing, the B6+ is worth trying. It’s not a compromise so much as a recalibration.

The Paper

Eighty gsm is heavier than Moleskine‘s 70 gsm, and it shows. Fountain pen users will still see ghosting (both notebooks have this problem) but bleed-through is less of an issue here, and the paper handles wetter inks with more composure. Gel pens, ballpoints, and fineliners all perform well. The chamois tint is subtle, a shade or two warmer than white, easy on the eyes under desk lamps and overhead fluorescents alike.

The dotted grid on this version is the right choice if you’ve never used it. Dots at 5mm intervals are visible enough to keep your handwriting level and your sketches straight, without visually dominating the page the way ruled lines do. They disappear when you’re not looking for them. That’s the idea.

The Rising Sun Colorway

This is a soft coral-to-amber gradient cover, more muted in person than product photos suggest — which is a good thing. It reads as a warm, dusty orange in most lighting, closer to aged terracotta than anything neon. It’s a genuinely attractive notebook to have sitting on a desk or a coffee table, and the color holds up to handling without looking scuffed or cheap.

If you’d prefer something more subdued, Leuchtturm makes the same notebook in about thirty colors. But Rising Sun is worth considering. It photographs well, which matters if you’re the kind of person who photographs your desk setup. No judgment.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Numbered pages and table of contents are genuinely useful, not gimmicks
• 80 gsm paper handles most pens better than Moleskine’s 70 gsm
• Two ribbon bookmarks for the price of one
• Softcover folds flat and tolerates one-handed use
• B6+ size hits a practical sweet spot for carry and writing comfort
• Rising Sun colorway is attractive without being loud
• Eight perforated pages for clean tear-outs

Cons

• 123 pages fills up faster than you’d like — you’ll want a second one nearby
• Fountain pen ghosting is still present at 80 gsm
• The label sticker set is more useful in theory than practice
• No hard cover option in the B6+ format if you prefer a stiffer writing surface

The Verdict

The Leuchtturm1917 B6+ Softcover doesn’t have a story to tell you about itself. It has numbered pages, two bookmarks, fountain-pen-tolerant paper, and a flexible cover that goes wherever you go. It’s a working notebook for people who work in notebooks, and it’s better equipped for that job than most of the competition, including the Moleskine Classic it’s most often compared to.

The Rising Sun colorway is a nice touch. Hemingway wouldn’t have cared. You might.

Get the LEUCHTTURM1917 B6+ Softcover on Amazon →

Michael Semer is a writer and editor who has strong opinions about notebooks and mild opinions about everything else. Well, mostly.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the LEUCHTTURM1917 better than Moleskine? For most practical purposes, yes. The Leuchtturm has heavier paper, numbered pages, a table of contents, and two ribbon bookmarks compared to Moleskine’s one. The Moleskine has more cultural cachet and a better hardcover option. If you’re choosing between them as a working notebook, Leuchtturm wins on features. If the mythology matters to you, Moleskine is still Moleskine.

Is the B6+ a good size for journaling? It’s an excellent size for journaling. Large enough to write freely, small enough to carry without planning around it. The softcover adds flexibility, making it comfortable to hold for longer writing sessions.

Is LEUCHTTURM1917 paper good for fountain pens? Better than Moleskine, but not without limitations. The 80 gsm paper handles most fountain pen inks without bleed-through, but ghosting on the reverse side is still visible. Wet nibs and fast-drying inks perform better than slow-drying ones. Dedicated fountain pen notebooks like Clairefontaine or Rhodia use heavier paper if that’s a priority.

What does “dotted” mean in a notebook? Dotted paper has a grid of small dots printed at regular intervals — in this case, 5mm apart. They’re discreet enough to disappear when you’re writing normally, but visible enough to keep handwriting level and help with sketches, diagrams, or bullet journaling layouts. Most people who try dotted paper don’t go back to ruled.

How many pages does the LEUCHTTURM1917 B6+ Softcover have? 123 numbered pages. That’s roughly 62 sheets. It fills up faster than larger formats; if you write daily, plan on going through two or three per year.

What is the Rising Sun colorway? Rising Sun is a warm coral-to-amber cover color — closer to muted terracotta than orange in person. It’s part of Leuchtturm’s Special Edition color releases and is available across several formats while supplies last.