Are Moleskines Fountain Pen Friendly?

Calling Moleskines “fountain pen friendly” is like saying that a popular car is great as long as you don’t need to drive anywhere. Harsh? Here are the facts …

Are Moleskines fountain pen friendly? No. The paper quality is low in general, and fountain pen users will experience ghosting and bleedthrough that prevent you using both sides of the paper, and even some feathering on the front side. There are far better options available, and at a cheaper price.

I WANT to like Moleskines. I really do! Their displays in bookstores and stationery shops are always so enticing, aren’t they. Their advertising is amazing. But if you want to write with anything other than a #2 pencil or a Bic ballpoint, forget it. It’s just terrible paper.

The worst part is, it doesn’t feel like bad paper. Pick up a Moleskine and run your finger over the pages and they will feel coated and smooth, not unlike some other papers that fountain pen users love. So, it’s just a shame you don’t write with your finger; because if you put a nib on that page, you’ll be greatly disappointed.

1. The Problems

Here are some pictures of what I’m talking about. This is a Moleskine soft cover 7.5″x9.75″ ruled notebook (192 pages). It sells online from $22 to $29.

All I did was open to the first page, and start writing with the 8 fountain pens I happened to have inked up in my daily carry case.

In image 1, look carefully and you might see some of the feathering. It’s particularly noticeable on the text written by the Pilot Vanishing Point and the Levenger True Writer. But that is the least of the problems.

Image 2 is the reverse of the page, and you will immediately see that “ghosting” is a real problem. This is reasonably thick paper, and yet every word is readable from the other side. This alone would make you reconsider using both sides of the page, but then you’ll notice many spots where it’s beyond ghosting — there is “bleedthrough”. And the problem is exactly the same for both fine and broader nib pens. That clinches it. The back of every page is unusable if you’re writing with a fountain pen.

With image 3, I tried to zoom in and give you an even closer look.

2. Why Are Moleskines So Popular?

One word. Marketing.

Moleskine is an Italian company who have demonstrated an enviable genius at marketing their products. The company is actually not very old, being founded by Maria Sebregondi in 1997. Yet in the public consciousness they seem to enjoy the reputation of being a much older, and even historic, manufacturer of “quality” writing books. They have intentionally positioned themselves for these assumptions by ad copy like this: “the heir and successor to the legendary notebook used by artists and thinkers over the past two centuries: among them Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway and Bruce Chatwin.”

To be fair, that language does not claim that their notebooks were used by any of those writers and artists. But the choice of words is clever, isn’t it … “heir and successor”. What does that actually mean? Who knows. It’s quite ambiguous. But it succeeds in linking their product with the notebooks carried by these famous people.

Given those associations, and the fact that the company is Italian, you might well assume that the products are made in Europe. They are not. Read the packaging and you’ll discover that they are produced in places like China and Vietnam. That in itself doesn’t mean they must be poor quality — the writing experience, however, does confirm it.

3. “But I Heard Moleskine Have Lifted Their Game”

From time to time I too have read reviews claiming this. I have yet to see any proof of it. The pictures above are of a Moleskine that I purchased just a few weeks ago for another test.

I’ve also heard some people claim that there is a difference between the Moleskine Cahier and Volent lines. Well, it’s possible that there is some difference between them, but I’ve tried them all and exactly NONE are fountain pen friendly. The fact that one may be a little better than another is not enough.

I would love for this company to improve their products, and I would probably be one of the first to buy them if they did. So, far, however, that has not happened. And when you think about it, why would they? They already dominate the market with an expensive product that has a high markup because of cheap manufacturing. The only thing that could convince them to make a change would be if people stopped buying them.

4. Are There Fountain Pen Friendly Alternatives to Moleskines?

Yes! Dozens.

And this is the real point of my post. Why would you buy an expensive poor quality notebook, when there are so many better, and even cheaper, ones on the market that are a joy to use?

Here’s a quick shortlist of some of the fantastic alternatives (check out my “Recommended Paper Products” page for more details):

• Rhodia Webnotebook
• The Author Notebook
• Leuchtturm 1917
• Claire Fontaine Notebooks
• Traveler’s Notebooks

All of these options have a range to select from, and all have wonderful fountain pen friendly paper.

OR, you might consider building your own notebook using a disc bound system like TUL, Arc (from Staples), or Circa (by Levenger). Simply get yourself a set of their plastic discs (they are all quite interchangeable), and one of their special holepunches. Then you can select whatever paper you like, punch it and build a completely customizable notebook.

5. A Surprising Discovery

One day I was in Walmart and I came across a brand of notebooks and journals that I’d never seen before. The brand was called “Exceed”. Forgive my skepticism, but they were so inexpensive (around $10 for 120 sheets) that I assumed they would have to be poor quality. But I figured they were cheap enough for the experiment to find out for myself, so I bought one. To my utter amazement, I found that they were very fountain pen friendly.

I jumped in my car, drove back to Walmart and picked up a stack of them which I’ve used as “commonplace books” ever since.

Now, there are other notebooks that I still prefer (see the list above), but Exceed just can’t be beaten for the price.

So, I recommend we all just get over the hipster hype about Moleskines, and buy better quality notebooks, with nicer paper, at much more affordable prices.

Agree or disagree? Let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.