How Romantics and Victorians Organized Information: Commonplace Books, Scrapbooks, and Albums

by Jillian M. Hess

Every literary household in nineteenth-century Britain had a commonplace book, scrapbook, or album. Coleridge called his collection "Fly-Catchers", while George Eliot referred to one of her commonplace books as a "Quarry," and Michael Faraday kept quotations in his "Philosophical Miscellany." Nevertheless, the nineteenth-century commonplace book, along with associated traditions like the scrapbook and album, remain under-studied. This book tells the story of how
technological and social changes altered methods for gathering, storing, and organizing information in nineteenth-century Britain. As the commonplace book moved out of the schoolroom and into the home, it took on elements of the friendship album. At the same time, the explosion of print allowed readers
to cheaply cut-and-paste extractions rather than copying out quotations by hand. Built on the evidence of over 300 manuscripts, this volume unearths the composition practices of well-known writers such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Sir Walter Scott, George Eliot, and Alfred Lord Tennyson, and their less well-known contemporaries. Divided into two sections, the first half of the book contends that methods for organizing knowledge developed in line with the period's dominant epistemic frameworks,
while the second half argues that commonplace books helped Romantics and Victorians organize people.

Chapters focus on prominent organizational methods in nineteenth-century commonplacing, often attached to an associated epistemic virtue: diaristic forms and the imagination (Chapter Two); "real time" entries signalling objectivity (Chapter Three); antiquarian remnants, serving as empirical evidence for historical arguments (Chapter Four); communally produced commonplace books that attest to socially constructed knowledge (Chapter Five); and blank spaces in commonplace books of mourning
(Chapter Six). Richly illustrated, this book brings an archive of commonplace books, scrapbooks, and albums to the reader.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, History Of Science, Writing

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 21, 2022

Reviews

[Jagordo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well researched and well written, this book is hurt by the fact that the author waffles between being openly passionate or overly academic. Some passages are a joy to read, exciting in content and conveyance, while others sound like they were written with the intent to impress others in her field. Still worth a read for anyone interested in the history of commonplace books overall.

[Lelia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is chock full of information, well researched and delivers more than I expected. Hess takes an in depth look at the evolution of commonplace books, scrapbooks and albums and the way individuals - including Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Sir Walter Scott, Humphry Davy, Michael Faraday, George Eliot, Alfred Lord Tennyson - collected information and interacted with it.

Hess’s approach is scholarly and there were times I got a little lost in her arguments - but that may be because I’m out of practice when it comes to reading scholarly works. I didn’t expect - but very much enjoyed - her insightful analysis of Coleridge, Eliot and Tennyson. Hess also explores the idea that “collecting extracts is also an act of collaborative self-making,” as well as being a way to gather knowledge, or to grieve and honor a loved one who’s died. What I most enjoyed was the way Hess demonstrates that the way we collect information and interact with the information we’ve collected reflects and shapes the way our minds work.

[Sometime Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't read an academic book before, but the topic was exactly what I was looking for. So it was nice to find something so niche for a niche hobby.

This was overall an interesting book. At times it was technical, or meta (book within book references happen). I especially loved learning the different types of commonplace books people kept and how technology and culture affected the hobby.

[Katelyn]

An academic exploration of commonplace books. With my personal interest in this topic, I found this interesting to skim through.