What Is a Commonplace Book?

Imagine opening a notebook that belonged to someone two hundred years ago.

Inside you find a pressed violet. A recipe copied from a neighbor. A favorite poem written carefully in ink. A sketch of a bird seen on an afternoon walk. A shopping list tucked beside a letter. A newspaper clipping. A watercolor swatch. A quotation that once stopped someone in their tracks.

It isn't quite a diary.

It isn't a scrapbook.

It isn't a sketchbook.

It's something delightfully difficult to define—and perhaps that's exactly why it has endured for centuries.

A commonplace book is simply a place to gather what you don't want to forget.