The Paper Plane : Miquelrius 1839 Soft recycled leather notebook

[namrehsnoom]

The Paper Plane – Miquelrius 1839 Soft recycled leather notebook
 
 
 
I've been enjoying this little corner of the web for some time now, mainly focusing on inks and pens. But these are more or less useless without the humble paper or notebook that will let you capture your thoughts.  So here comes the "Paper Plane", where I review some of the paper and notebooks that I've enjoyed using over the years. Today's guest: Miquelrius 1839 Soft recycled leather notebook.

 

 
I recently bought a couple of Miquelrius notebooks at a local warehouse. Miquelrius is a Spanish company that produces high quality paperware, but in this case I got me the eco-friendly edition: a soft-cover notebook containing 200 pages of 80 gsm 100% recycled paper. The covers have a nice look and feel, and they too are made from recycled leather (75% leather fibers + 25% natural latex). A nice feature of the Miquelrius notebook is that it opens fairly flat, making it easier to write in.

 

The notebook has a very minimalistic style: a textured but plain cover, containing the pages that are glued to the spine – that’s basically it. On the backside the non-obtrusive branding mentioning “Miquelrius 1839”. The one remaining question: can this notebook be used successfully with fountain pens?

 

 

 

For the test, I used a number of different pens and inks – covering the complete range from wet to dry. I also did some ink swabs with a cotton Q-tip. The recycled paper handled the ink quite well. There’s almost no visible feathering – you need to look very closely to find a few occurrences where light feathering is present. What I really like is the way inks look on this paper – ink colours are expressed quite beautifully. That’s a big plus!

 

But… turn the page, and you’ll see the downside of recycled paper. It is very absorbent, and there is quite a lot of see-through and bleed-through. When using a fountain pen with this notebook, you won’t be able to used the backside of the pages.

 

Conclusion
This Miquelrius notebook with 80 gsm recycled paper is an eco-friendly version of their higher-end notebooks. Unfortunately, inks exhibit excessive see-through and bleed-through, which makes this notebook unsuitable for use with fountain pens. Which is a pity, because inks look really beautiful on this recycled paper. In my opinion, this is a ballpoint-only notebook, which might be a good alternative for the more well-known Moleskine.
 

[amberleadavis]

I have been using the Miquel Ruis Notebooks since I discovered them in law school.  For years I've used the MR Faux Journals which are now on sale for $15.50 for a two pack. The paper is wonderful to write on. I'll post some images up later.  Thank you for the great review.

[amberleadavis]

@namrehsnoom You inspired me - here is my review of the older journal.  

 

 

I'm thinking that the difference may be the recycled paper.

[LizEF]

Thank you for the review, @namrehsnoom!  The inks really do look lovely on that paper.  Good enough that if you're the sort of person who only uses one side of the page, it would be good enough.  I'm envisioning artsy doodles torn out and included with random correspondence.  If paying bills by mail were still a thing, including doodles for whoever has to open your payment envelope might be a fun thing.

 

I always move on when I see that a paper is recycled.  Not sure why the same sizing techniques that work for unrecycled paper don't work for (or aren't used on) recycled paper, but apparently it doesn't (or no one wants to try it, or something).