American Heirloom Project: The not-so-common commonplace book

Photo by Hannah Olinger on Unsplash

These days, if we find an interesting bit of information we want to refer to later, we bookmark it in our browser or tag it in the book we’re reading, digital or otherwise.

But in 1390, that wasn’t an option. No browsers to speak of and most people weren’t reading books they owned. Books were expensive, in part because everything had to be transcribed by hand into new copies. So, only the wealthy could afford them, and even they had limits.

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I myself have a library of just physical books that would easily dwarf Cambridge University Library’s in the early 15th century. It’s not that hard, though, at just 122.

So, when people found something interesting, they engaged in a practice called commonplacing. They wrote it down in a book called a commonplace book. These were essentially blank notebooks that were much less costly than a finished manuscript, and if you were literate—and more people were than most modern folks assume, particularly in more urban areas—you could transcribe the bit of information into your commonplace book.

It’s through this practice that a surprising amount of information exists.

I first came to know about commonplace books thanks to my study of Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA). A lot of early information exists only through commonplace books, such as a discussion on the longsword teaching of Johannes Lechtenauer from 1390.

It also includes some bits on alchemy and magic, medicine, a mead recipe, and cooking recipes.

To call it a bit eclectic is to put it mildly.

And that’s the beauty of a commonplace book. You can put literally anything you want in there. Right now, mine is in the early stages, where I just have a couple of quotes so that I can reference them without the internet, but anything is fair game.

I wish I’d done this sooner.

We say the internet is forever, but is it? Years ago, I found a pork loin recipe that I wanted to give a try. I cooked it, the family enjoyed it, and I bookmarked it. Then, something happened. After cooking it several times, I didn’t view the recipe for a few years. Then, having a hankering for it, I looked once again and couldn’t find it. Everything was gone, and I have spent years trying to find it again. My wife thinks she found it with AI, and it sounds promising, but we’ll have to give it a shot.

If so, though, we’re not storing it online. It’s going in the commonplace book where I’ll have a physical copy at all times, plus in my wife’s recipe file—she’s always written out important recipes—so we won’t lose it again.

Historically, many people kept commonplace books, including many of the Founding Fathers, and these books are fascinating glimpses into the men behind the books. While it’s unlikely any of us will achieve such fame that our commonplace books are topics of study by historians, they’re useful for those we leave behind.

My son was instructed not to let my commonplace book be discarded when I die. I want it to be held as a family heirloom, along with their own commonplace books.

And I think you can see why this is different from a journal . Yes, you can put all of this in a journal, too, but the truth is that a journal isn’t as easily referenced.

So, with all of that out of the way, let’s get into how I go about commonplacing.

To start with, you need a book for this. I decided to make it easy on myself and purchased this one (This is an affiliate link, so if you buy this one, I get a small percentage and nothing changes for you.)

Yes, it has “commonplace” on the cover, but the important thing is that it comes with a table of contents and page numbers.

What you do is that you decide what goes where, in whatever order you come across it, write it down, and put what you wrote down in the table of contents.

Page one might be quotes about individual liberty, but page 12 might be a chicken recipe that you love. This is bizarre from an association standpoint, but you’re not writing a book that’s meant to flow from one idea to another. It’s a book of things that matter to you and you alone. It can be as bizarre as you want.

Plus, if you’re like me and you have a million interests, you could hypothetically have a commonplace book for various interests. One that deals with edible plants or gardening and, say, one that covers wisdom about physical fitness. I probably should create one specifically for Second Amendment things as that’s my line of primary work, and it’s easier to reference a table of contents than a wonky back-end search function.

I think that, by now, you’re starting to get the gist of it.

What I personally think you should avoid is actively looking for things to include in your commonplace books just for the sake of filling them up. Sure, look for that quote you’re usually googling to drop in a discussion. That makes perfect sense, but that’s different from scrolling through a site or a book of quotations and grabbing everything you think sounds good unless you actually think you’ll need it.

It’s about what’s important to you, but not for the sake of having a full book. Besides, if you fill it with stuff you’ll never use, you’ll end up with a full book and nowhere to include the things that actually matter.

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And that’s what it’s all about, really. It’s about each of us preserving the things that matter to us, either as a window into our minds or as a simple reference we’re going to need later on.

As a reflection of you, it should be as diverse in content as you are. From recipes and quotes to jokes that can’t be told at cocktail parties, nothing should really be off-limits except when it serves no use to you.

Tell me, how many of you already do it? How many of you are going to start? Let me know. I’m opening the comments for these going forward.

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