Robert Burns's Commonplace Book 1783-1785 is the first of three commonplace books that were produced by the poet. The contents cover drafts of songs and poems, observations, ideas, epitaphs, etc.

Who kept a commonplace book?

Thomas Jefferson was known to keep one commonplace book for legal references and another for literary ones.

What is a commonplace book called?

A commonplace book is a writer's personal collection of quotations, observations, and topic ideas. Also known as topos koinos (Greek) and locus communis (Latin). Called florilegia ("flowers of reading") in the Middle Ages, commonplace books were especially popular during the Renaissance and well into the 18th century.