Recent Studies in Commonplace Books

Abstract

This essay surveys scholarship in English on early modern commonplace books from 1971 through 2011. In their purest form, commonplace books were written in Latin by schoolboys who organized sententiae under topic headings, but educated amateurs of both genders used and adapted the form well into the seventeenth century. Recent research in this field demonstrates that commonplace book compilation intersects with a number of areas, such as education, reading, memory, religion, politics, science, and music. Scholarship on individual manuscript and printed commonplace books enriches our understanding of the multiple ways in which readers interacted with texts and with the world around them. (V.E.B.)

Read. Do. Observe. Take note!

“…56 Exploration on the note-taking activities of women have mostly been conducted by literary scholars within larger studies on women's reading and writing practices. See, for example, Burke, 2001Burke, , 2010Burke, , 2013Ezell, 2007. 3 | WOMEN AS READERS, NOTE-TAKERS AND KNOWERS The early modern household was a vibrant site for the production of everyday knowledge. In kitchens and stillrooms, householders made a range of medicinal and food products from distilled waters to candied fruits to cakes and biscuits to beer and mead.…”

“…Exploration on the note‐taking activities of women have mostly been conducted by literary scholars within larger studies on women's reading and writing practices. See, for example, Burke, , , ; Ezell, .…”