Leuchtturm1917 Medium A5 Notebook: Pages & Paper

Drawing of a Forest Green Leuchtturm1917 Medium A5 hard cover, 210 mm tall and 145 mm wide, closed with its elastic and opened flat on 5 mm dotted, numbered pages with two ribbon page markers — The Medium A5 closed and open, with a numbered page corner magnified (1 mm = 1 px).

Product facts

Product: Leuchtturm1917 Notebook Medium (A5), Hardcover, 251 numbered pages (dotted, ruled, squared or plain)
Brand: Leuchtturm1917
Brand origin: Germany
Made in: Varies (Taiwan or Germany)^*
Material: Synthetic leather hard cover, 80 g/m² FSC-certified, slightly cream paper
Released: 2005^*
Price range: $$$$20–75 per notebook

Notes on these facts

Made by Leuchtturm Gruppe (Geesthacht, Germany). Made in Varies (Taiwan or Germany): Retailer data conflicts. Galaxus has listed Germany for a forest-green Medium dotted hard cover; Digitec has listed Germany, Taiwan and United Kingdom for a red-violet one; several eBay listings for Medium A5 notebooks have given Taiwan (all three now block automated reading). Leuchtturm1917's German and US product pages name no country for the standard notebook; its US 120G page says that edition's paper is made in Germany. Check the label on your copy. Source. Price: example listing. Released: Unsharpen dates the Leuchtturm1917 notebook brand to 2005; we found no separate date for the A5 Medium. The company itself dates to 1917.
Price bands are typical US retail, checked October 2026. Conversions to US dollars are approximate, at October 2026 rates (US$1 = ¥158 = ₩1,330 = NT$32.5 = CN¥6.7 = SEK 9.9 = DKK 6.7 = ₺49.6 = C$1.41 = A$1.43; €1 = US$1.12; £1 = US$1.32; CHF 1 = US$1.21).

Key takeaways

The cover is A5-sized at 145 × 210 mm (5.75 × 8.25 in), 15 mm wider than a Moleskine Classic Large at 130 × 210 mm.
Leuchtturm1917's own product pages list 251 numbered pages; older stock and some retailers still say 249.
Standard paper is 80 g/m², versus 70 g/m² in the Moleskine Classic; the 120G edition uses 120 g/m² with 203 numbered pages.
Leuchtturm1917's German site lists 8 perforated sheets at the back, a sticker set for archiving, a thread-sewn book block and a weight of 423 g.
The dotted layout uses a 5 mm dot grid, and retailers give 6 mm line spacing for the ruled version.

What is the Leuchtturm1917 Medium A5 notebook?

It’s the A5 hard-cover notebook from Leuchtturm1917, a German brand, and the size most people mean when they say “a Leuchtturm”. It comes in dotted, ruled, squared and plain layouts and in a long list of cover colors.

What sets it apart from most hard-cover notebooks is the archiving kit. Leuchtturm1917 prints page numbers on every page and leaves a blank table of contents at the front, so you can index what you write.

Wirecutter picked the Leuchtturm1917 Hardcover Notebook Classic (A5) in its notebook guide; it was the favorite of three of its testers, who praised the cream-colored paper.

Leuchtturm1917 Medium A5 specs

Spec	Value
Maker	Leuchtturm1917 (Leuchtturm Gruppe, Geesthacht, Germany)
Format	Medium, A5
Size	145 × 210 mm (5.75 × 8.25 in)
Pages	251 numbered (older listings: 249)
Paper	80 g/m², FSC-certified, slightly cream (Leuchtturm1917); acid-free, ink-proof (per retailers)
Layouts	Dotted (5 mm) · ruled (6 mm) · squared · plain
Index	Blank table of contents
Page markers	2 ribbons
Extras	Elastic closure, gusseted back pocket, 8 perforated sheets, sticker set
Binding	Thread-sewn book block (Fadenheftung); Leuchtturm1917 says it opens flat
Weight	423 g (Leuchtturm1917 Germany)
Article	329398 (black, dotted, Germany)
German list price	€24.50 (about US$27)
Made in	Varies: Taiwan or Germany, per retailers

Size, page count, paper, ribbons, extras, binding, weight and price come from Leuchtturm1917’s German product page, which matches its US and international pages. The 6 mm line spacing comes from Spilhaus.

Does it have 249 or 251 pages?

Leuchtturm1917’s current product pages say 251 numbered pages. Older stock and some retailer listings, including the EPFL shop and Yoseka Stationery (which gives 249 pages, 125 sheets), still say 249.

Neither Leuchtturm1917 nor the retailers we found explain the change. If you buy from a shop with older stock, check the number printed on the band.

What paper does it use, and is there a heavier option?

The standard Medium uses 80 g/m² paper; the 120G edition uses 120 g/m². That 80 g/m² is a step up from the 70 g/m² in a Moleskine Classic, and a common reason people switch.

Edition	Paper	Numbered pages
Standard Medium (A5)	80 g/m²	251
120G Medium (A5)	120 g/m²	203

The 120G edition trades about 50 pages for thicker paper. Leuchtturm1917 says it’s designed for fountain pens, markers and brush pens. For even heavier paper, the Archer & Olive A5 has 192 pages of 160 gsm.

The Leuchtturm1917 Bullet Journal Edition 2 uses the same 120 g/m² paper as the 120G edition, with 206 numbered pages and built-in setup pages.

Is the Leuchtturm1917 good for fountain pens?

Reviewers say it handles fountain pens well for its weight, with little smudging and no bleeding in Wirecutter’s tests. Leuchtturm1917 calls the slightly cream paper easy on the eyes.

Ghosting (seeing writing from the other side) is still likely with wet inks or broad nibs on 80 g/m² paper. Those are reviewers’ results; we haven’t tested it ourselves.

For gel pens, a Pilot G2 in 0.5 mm or a uni-ball Jetstream RT puts down less ink than a broad fountain pen nib.

How does it compare to the Moleskine Classic?

The Leuchtturm1917 Medium is 15 mm wider than a Moleskine Large and adds heavier paper, numbered pages and an index.

To-scale comparison: Leuchtturm1917 Medium A5 at 145 × 210 mm beside Moleskine Classic Large at 130 × 210 mm, both 210 mm tall — Both notebooks are 210 mm tall; the Leuchtturm1917 is 145 mm wide, the Moleskine 130 mm.

Feature	Leuchtturm1917 Medium (A5)	Moleskine Classic Large
Size	145 × 210 mm	130 × 210 mm
Pages	251, numbered	240, unnumbered
Paper	80 g/m²	70 g/m²
Table of contents	Yes	No
Ribbons	2	1
Perforated sheets	8	None

Moleskine figures come from our Moleskine Classic Notebook guide. The extra width matters if you want a standard A5 cover or A5 inserts.

Which layout should you choose?

Dotted is the most flexible; pick ruled for prose and squared for numbers.

Dotted (5 mm): guides straight lines but fades into the background for drawings, lists and bullet journaling.
Ruled (6 mm): for writing in full sentences.
Squared: for tables, sketches and math.
Plain: for drawing; the 120G edition suits markers better.

For a cheaper ruled notebook for class, see the Mead composition notebook.

Where is the Leuchtturm1917 notebook made?

Retailer listings disagree: some say Germany, others Taiwan. Galaxus lists Germany for a forest-green Medium dotted hard cover, Digitec lists Germany, Taiwan and the United Kingdom for a red-violet one, and several eBay sellers give Taiwan for Medium A5 notebooks.

Leuchtturm1917’s product pages don’t state a country of manufacture for the standard notebook; its US page for the 120G edition says that paper is made in Germany. The retailer pages above now block automated reading, so we couldn’t recheck them.

One Galaxus listing for the Edition 120 sketchbook says Taiwan for the book but Germany for the paper, so paper and binding may happen in different places. Check the label on your copy.

The brand is German: Leuchtturm1917 GmbH, Am Spakenberg 45, Geesthacht, near Hamburg. The “1917” in the name is the founding year in the company’s own history; some accounts date today’s Leuchtturm company to 1948 in Hamburg.

Frequently asked questions

What size is a Leuchtturm1917 Medium notebook?

The Medium is A5: Leuchtturm1917 gives it as 145 × 210 mm, or 5.75 × 8.25 inches. It's the same height as a Moleskine Large but 15 mm wider.

Does the Leuchtturm1917 A5 have 249 or 251 pages?

Leuchtturm1917's current product pages say 251 numbered pages for the Medium hard cover. Listings for older stock and some retailers still give 249. Neither the maker nor retailers explain the change in the sources we found.

What paper weight is the Leuchtturm1917 notebook?

The standard Medium uses 80 g/m² (80 gsm) FSC-certified paper, according to Leuchtturm1917. The separate 120G edition uses 120 g/m² paper and has 203 numbered pages instead of 251.

Is the Leuchtturm1917 good for fountain pens?

Mostly, with fine nibs and normal inks. Wirecutter's testers reported very little smudging and no bleeding with fountain pens, but the 80 g/m² paper can show ghosting with wet inks. For heavy ink or markers, Leuchtturm1917 points to the 120G edition.

What comes inside a Leuchtturm1917 notebook?

Leuchtturm1917's German site lists numbered pages, a blank table of contents, two page markers, an elastic closure, a gusseted back pocket, 8 perforated sheets at the end and a sticker set for archiving.

Where are Leuchtturm1917 notebooks made?

It depends on the batch. Retailer listings give Germany for some Medium A5 notebooks and Taiwan for others, and the brand's product pages don't say. Leuchtturm1917 itself is a German brand based near Hamburg.

Is Leuchtturm1917 better than Moleskine?

On paper and page features, it offers more: 80 vs 70 g/m² paper, numbered pages and an index. The Moleskine Large is slimmer at 130 mm wide, so the choice comes down to width, page numbering and paper weight.

Sources (21)

Plain-text version for AI agents: leuchtturm1917-a5-notebook.md · Spotted an error? See how we check facts.