The Commonplace Book ~ splendid.horse

Keepers of Commonplace Books

Throughout history, great minds have gathered quotations and reflections in personal notebooks. Here are some notable practitioners.

English philosopher who published 'A New Method of a Common-Place Book' in 1706, establishing a sophisticated indexing system still studied today.

Third U.S. President who kept commonplace books his entire life, recording passages from legal texts, classical literature, and political philosophy.

Modernist writer who filled notebooks with observations, quotations, and sketches that informed her experimental fiction.

Transcendentalist philosopher whose journals and notebooks spanned decades and became source material for his essays.

English philosopher who advocated commonplacing as a method of systematic knowledge organization.

Roman Emperor whose 'Meditations' is essentially a commonplace book of Stoic philosophy written for personal reflection.

Renaissance humanist who taught commonplacing as essential education and compiled his own vast collections.

Swedish botanist who used commonplace methods to organize natural observations that led to modern taxonomy.

Physicist who kept extensive notebooks mixing quotations, observations, and original mathematical work.

Romantic poet whose notebooks mixed philosophical observations, dreams, and literary analysis.

French essayist whose essays grew directly from his practice of collecting quotations and reflecting on them.

Renaissance polymath whose notebooks combined quotations, observations, sketches, and inventions.

Author who kept journals mixing personal reflection, quotations, and ideas that informed 'Frankenstein.'

Transcendentalist whose journals were commonplace books of natural observation and philosophical reflection.

Poet who compiled 'A Certain World: A Commonplace Book' as an autobiography told through collected quotations.

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