You guys! Last week when I was searching to get more historical information on Commonplace Books, I ran across a Tartan cloth pocket notebook on Amazon. I am obsessed and in love with the Outlander series. So much so that I definitely want to plan a trip to Scotland one day. I saw that they had different Tartan Cloth Notebook designs and just had to have THIS ONE! This cloth is the Isle of Skye design and I am in love with the purple! I don’t know why I never considered that there were professionally crafted books made specifically for this purpose.
It arrived with a little card about the history of Tartans and the Isle of Skye. Also with a little booklet with information on what a commonplace notebook is. I will leave the scans of those below!
I am starting a commonplace book and it has been a long time coming. For quite a while now I’ve wanted to start a commonplace book so that I might have a central place to store all of the quotes, advice, anecdotes, snippets, and profound lyrics that I collect haphazardly throughout my days. But before I get too much into that why don’t we discuss just what a commonplace book is?
What Exactly is a Commonplace Book?
According to dictionary.com, a commonplace book is, “a book in which noteworthy quotations, comments, etc., are written.” Through my research, I’ve learned that a commonplace book has been used throughout the ages. Many well known historical figures kept commonplace books. The famous Greek Marcus Aurealis, known for the stoicism movement, kept a commonplace book. It eventually became the basis for his famous meditations. Other historical figures like Leonardo Da Vinci and author Dante also kept commonplace books. Commonplace books were quite popular during the time of the Rennasaince.
A commonplace book is meant to store information from recipes to quotes, advice, notes, inspired thoughts, letters, and poems. It is essentially a scrapbook of wisdom and knowledge for the curator of information. Readers, writers, and people from all walks of life have and do keep commonplace books. Perhaps you keep a commonplace book and just weren’t familiar with the term?
Commonplace Book: A New Term for an Old Thought
As I stated before I’ve wanted to start a commonplace book for some time now. It wasn’t until recently that I actually learned the term for what I had been contemplating for months, perhaps years now. I watched a video I watched on YouTube that introduced the term to me. My heart jumped and shouted, that’s it! That’s exactly what want to do! So I then put the term into the YouTube search bar and found many more videos on it. The original I watched is by Jordan Clark and the other I liked very much is by the Reset Girl. Both have very different styles of storing their information. I’m drawn to both. While one is simplistic, the other is very decorative. I may try both in my book and see what works best for me.
As it is, I’m just happy I’m finally starting a commonplace book! To check out my process on how I decorate the cover of my book and my first entry, click or watch the video below! It’s slightly similar to the lyric journal I started. But my commonplace book will include much more than just lyrics. If you’ve started a commonplace book yourself, please let me know in the comments! What sorts of information do you keep?
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