The first journal I purchased when getting into this hobby was the Leuchtturm1917. I saw it recommended everywhere for journaling and thought I’d give it a go, getting the lined version. They recently came out with the 120 gsm which I also got to compare to the original.
Both journals gave a thick leather cover protecting the pages inside. They also contain an elastic strap to keep it closed and a page mark.
The back of the journal has a large pouch in which you can store papers. It also comes with stickers for the spine and the front cover.
The paper inside both is high quality and cream colored. It handles fountain pen ink well with no bleeding or feathering. However, it does not show ink qualities such as sheen as well as tomoe river or midori md.
I found the 80 gsm to have slight ghosting while the 120 gsm doesn’t have any at all. A curious thing that i discovered was that the 80 gsm seemed to be slightly less absorbent than the 120 leading to more sheen.
Both Leuchtturm1917s are solid picks for someone looking for a journal. For daily writing, I would recommend the 80 gsm as it contains more pages and feels more like paper, while the 120 gsm is more suited for heavy markers and feels similar to cardstock.
pen to paper 
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