Image	Product	Features	Price
	Rhodia		Check Price
	Clairefontaine		Check Price
	Montblanc 146		Check Price
	Endless Recorder		Check Price
	Pineider Jazz		Check Price

All good things come in twos, so every fountain pen needs its mighty partner, a good quality notebook, to create the ideal pair. Only then will you have the best writing experience a luxury pen can provide.

Since no two people have the same taste in notebooks and writing equipment, our task to find the best recommendations is challenging but far from impossible. We’ve reviewed all of the notebooks we have in our store and selected what we believe to be the best notebooks for fountain pens that aren’t just practical, but will also give you a better writing experience than any generic notebook ever will. 

In this article, we’ll give you our recommendations of the top notebooks to purchase and cover how to go about choosing the right one for your needs, so let’s get started.

Best Notebooks for Fountain Pens

All of the notebooks we’ve included on our best notebooks for fountain pen list handle fountain pens really well. They won’t allow bleeding through the pages and will compliment the color of the ink perfectly.

Best Elastic Closure Notebook - Rhodia

Specifications

Manufacturer	Rhodia
Color	Sapphire, Poppy, Silver, Black, Turquoise, and other
Height	21 cm
Width	14 cm

Pros & Cons

Pros

• The quality of the paper
• Dot grid that’s perfect for bullet journaling
• Back pocket ideal for storing
• Soft cover
• Affordable price
• Different sizes of notebooks available

Cons

• Orange accents on a lot of their notebooks
  

Rhodia is a brand that produces sturdy notebooks that work perfectly when paired with a quality fountain pen and can be used for planning, bullet journaling, and note-taking. 

The notebooks are made of premium 90g ivory Clairefontaine ruled paper that ensures you won’t get any bleeding or feathering when using a fountain pen. You can even use it to draw with watercolors. On top of that, the dot grid with a 7 mm spacing between each dot makes this an ideal notebook for bu-jo aficionados.

The notebook features an elastic closure and a ribbon marker colored orange, which is a tribute to the brand color. However, this color may be a downside for people who are not particularly fond of orange, as it also appears inside the notebooks.

An additional benefit is the back pocket of the notebook that’s located inside the back cover, which is very useful for storing photos, sticky notes, receipts, and other miscellaneous pieces of paper. Lastly, Rhodia notebooks come in a few different sizes, such as A4, A5, A6, and they even have smaller notepads, all of which come at a reasonable price, considering the brand’s quality. 

Best Ring Notebook - Clairefontaine

Specifications

Manufacturer	Clairefontaine
Color	Sapphire, Poppy, Silver, Black, Turquoise, and other
Height	14 cm
Width	8 cm

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Fountain pen, pencil, and ballpoint pen-friendly
• Lays flat due to the rings
• Buttery smooth thick paper
• Great for practicing handwriting due to the grid lines
• Affordable price

Cons

• You get a little ghosting on the other side
• Markers can bleed through

The Clairefontaine classic wire-bound notebooks are highly functional notebooks that come at an affordable price. 

They’re made of 90g Clairefontaine ruled paper and the grid lines are spaced 7 mm apart. Each page is buttery smooth and goes along with different types of pens and pencils without bleeding through, with the exception of markers, which will bleed through most notebooks.

Between each pair of thick lines, you’ll find five thin lines that allow you to write various heights of letters and improve your handwriting. The spiral binding also helps you have a comfortable writing experience since it enables the notebook to lay flat easily. 

The only downside to these notebooks is that the covers aren’t very stylish, and you may get a little ghosting, but if you’re a fan of quality writing paper that’s budget-friendly, this notebook is the right one for you.

Best Fine Stationary Notebook - Montblanc 146

Specifications

Manufacturer	Montblanc
Color	Starwalker Black Cosmos, Jimi Hendrix, Heritage Egyptomania Scarab, Around the World in 80 Days, Cool Grey, Green, Red, Manganese Orange, Indigo Blue, Yellow, Pink, Black, and others
Height	21 cm
Width	15 cm

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Looks and feels high-quality
• Leather cover
• Silver edges on the notebook
• Thick bookmark
• Color variety
• Nicely made binding

Cons

• The paper is susceptible to bleeding and feathering from pens with wider nibs
• 10mm rule 
• Montblanc logo on each page takes up space
• It doesn’t lie flat in the beginning

The Montblanc 146 Notebooks are easy on the eyes due to the finest flexible Saffiano leather and cross-hatched texture that comes in various colors of the rainbow, which means every notebook enthusiast can find their favorite color. This line also has a few unique notebook covers inspired by great historical characters, books, and zodiac signs, making them perfect for anyone who wants to own a more unique Montblanc notebook. 

Each notebook features the small Montblanc emblem at the front, a bookmark inside, and a first page with a calligraphy guide that shows you how you can use the lines to create eye-catching calligraphy. The downsides to this remarkable notebook are that the paper is susceptible to bleeding and feathering, but only if you use too much pressure when writing, and it doesn’t lie completely flat in the beginning, but if you take your time and break it in, you won’t experience any problems.

The paper is 85g, white, and has a watermark of the Montblanc star as well as Montblanc written at the bottom of the pages. The 10 mm rule is bigger than the standard 7 mm and may not be the go-to option for all notebook enthusiasts, but it will definitely work for people with larger handwriting. This high-quality notebook with excellent binding will give you the best of both worlds if you’re looking for a reasonably priced luxury notebook.

Best Notebook - Endless Recorder   

Specifications

Manufacturer	Endless
Color	Black, Blue, Green, Red
Height	21 cm
Width	14 cm

Pros & Cons

Pros

• No bleeding
• Minimal aesthetic
• Sewn binding
• Ribbon bookmark
• Table of contents
• Numbered pages
• Leatherette cover
• Eco-friendly packaging in the form of a handmade cotton pouch 

Cons

• Turquoise closure band on notebooks of different colors
• Inconsistent cutting on the edge of some notebooks
  
  

The Endless recorder notebook is made to be simple, functional, and with a minimalistic design. Its leatherette cover comes in four main colors, black, blue, green, and red, all very vivid and each one featuring a turquoise closure band and ribbon bookmark. On the front cover, the notebook has the Endless logo, the long cigar-shaped line with three dots that represent infinity, giving it an elegant and minimal design.

On the inside, you have high-density 68g Tomoe River Paper that doesn’t bleed through and is smooth and enjoyable to write on with a fountain pen. What’s best about this notebook is the table of contents and the numbers on each page that enable you to easily convert it to a bullet journal.

Last but not least, the company has put a lot of thought and effort into the packaging since each notebook comes packaged in an eco-friendly handmade cotton pouch that has a pull tie and a sewn-in pen loop, which shows great attention to detail.

Best Small Notebook - Pineider Jazz 

Specifications

Manufacturer	Pineider
Color	Orange, Red, Lilac, Black, Blue, Green, Yellow, Aqua Green
Height	14 cm
Width	9 cm

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Smooth leather cover
• Thick white paper
• Affordable
• Distinctive design
• Convenient size

Cons

•  Fewer pages compared to other notebooks in this category

The Pineider Jazz notebooks are a true example of professionalism and striving towards perfection, which is what Pineider as a brand is all about. The cover is made from regenerated leather and the color of the stitching matches the color of the cover, creating a seamless design.

These notebooks feature the 80g thick white paper that doesn’t allow the fountain pen ink to bleed through on the other page and allows you to write effortlessly with a fountain pen with a large or a small width. It’s ideal for journaling and note-taking, but also as a go-to notebook for planning. However, even though it has an affordable price, it only has 80 pages, which is significantly less than notebooks of similar quality but lower price.

Buyer’s Guide on Fountain Pen Notebook and Their Characteristics

As the pen and stationery market evolves, products and product categories are constantly upgraded, however, the classics will always be popular. Let’s take a look at the most common notebook characteristics.

Notebook Type

Notebooks come in different sizes and shapes, however, most of them fall into one of the following categories.

Standard Notebooks

These are the most commonly used notebooks because of their affordable price and wide range of use. They come with a soft cover that can be glued, stitched, or stapled, and can be found in different sizes.

Ring Notebooks

Ring notebooks are another popular notebook category since they’re both used in school as well as by avid note-takers due to the possibility of tearing out unwanted pages without destroying the binding. They generally have sturdier covers, which means you could use them easily even without a supportive surface.

Elastic Closure Notebook

Elastic closure notebooks are both stylish and functional. They have sturdy hard covers that protect the inner pages from bending and often have a useful pocket at the end to keep important documents.

Refillable Notebooks

These are the most useful types of notebooks since they allow you to take out or swap pages as you need them and they tend to last for years. Refillable notebooks have sturdier covers and often have pen pockets and other additional features that are seldom found on single-use notebooks.

Pocket Notebooks

These are one of the easiest notebooks to write in since they don’t take up a lot of space and can be carried around with you without you having to worry about the extra weight. They’re great for jotting down notes and ideas on the go.

Paper Color

Avid pen and notebook enthusiasts know that the color of the paper makes a huge difference, and most notebooks either have white or ivory-colored paper. You should choose white paper if you want to see the actual color of your ink, while ivory-color paper is easier on the eyes. The former can become tiring to read if you’re reading for a while, however, the latter gives off a yellow tint.

Smoothness

How smooth you want your paper to be also comes down to personal preference, however, the smoother the paper is, the more effortless the writing experience will be, but it generally takes longer for the pen to dry. Using toothy paper, on the other hand, won’t result in a bleedthrough, but it’s more affected by hand oils which get absorbed easily into the paper.

Showthrough Resistance

The ink showing through on the other side of the paper, also known as ghosting, is more common with thinner paper, while writing on thicker paper typically doesn’t result in ghosting.

How We Approach Research and Testing

To give you the best recommendations, we spent hours testing out different notebooks and comparing our results. This is what makes out reviews and guides accurate and insightful. We give you only the best of the best when it comes to writing equipment and stationery, so you can find the perfect writing equipment for you that will serve you well.

Conclusion

In the end, the ideal type of notebook will depend on your personal preference above all else. You are the one who gets to decide whether you’d enjoy thinner or thicker, smoother or toothier, and white or ivory paper when it comes to your everyday notebook. If you’d like to dive deeper into the world of paper products, you’d enjoy reading our guide on various paper products and the brands that stand behind them.

Out of all the different types of notebooks that we’ve mentioned, our favorite overall is the Rhodia since it’s a combination of quality material, great design, and affordability. These are all features that your go-to best notebook for fountain pen needs to have. And if you don’t want to take the additional time to research fountain pens and notebooks individually, you may want to check the LAMY fountain pen and notebook set.

So, what are your opinions? Do you agree with our top choices for notebooks, or do you think we missed one that’s really good? Let us know in the comment section below.