commonplace bookn.
/ˈkɒmənpleɪs ˌbʊk/, U.S. /ˈkɑmənˌpleɪs ˌbʊk/ A book consisting of a collection of commonplaces (commonplace n.2 1a, 2a); a book or scrapbook into which interesting quotations, extracts, etc., are copied for personal reference. Cf. book of commonplaces n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > record > written record > album or commonplace book > [noun]
book of commonplaces1562
adversaria1571
commonplace book1572
stem-book1592
commonplace1607
album1612
commonplacera1631
topic folio1644
place-booka1659
pocketbook1660
blank book1713
scrap-book1825
guard book1839
press book1897
1572 E. Cradock Shippe of Assured Safetie sig. b.iiij. In two of his greate Volumes, hathe gone through with so many, & so profound maters of religion, that for diuers needefull poynts to be spoken of, they might well serue a Diuine for common place bokes.
1668 M. Hale in H. Rolle Abridgment des Cases Pref. I have commended the making and using of a Commonplace-Book, as the best expedient that I know, for the orderly and profitable study of the Law.
a1794 E. Gibbon Memoirs in Misc. Wks. (1796) I. 124 I..filled a folio common-place book with my collections and remarks on the geography of Italy.
1839 H. Hallam Introd. Lit. Europe II. i. 47 They..registered all his table-talk in common-place books alphabetically arranged.
1960 J. Barth Sot-weed Factor (1987) ii. i. 107 Let the poetaster and occasional dabbler-in-letters affect that careless fecundity which sneers at notes and commonplace books.
2009 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 17 Dec. 61/4 He has written a florilegium, a commonplace book, pieced together out of fragments of social, cultural, and above all intellectual history.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2021; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1572