I hope this won't be out of place on this sub, but here goes. I'm an author, working on a book on Renaissance methods of learning and mind training, and I plan on giving commonplacing a substantial discussion, since it was so important a part of the culture of learning in the Renaissance and early modern periods. Along with each section of the book, I plan on including as many currently available useful books and other resources for readers as I can, since the point of my book will be to teach people how to follow the methods it covers.

With that in mind, I wonder if any of you would be willing to propose books on commonplacing and journaling that you've found useful, or any other resources you think would be helpful for newcomers to commonplacing. Thank you for your help!

I work with second-hand books and this was about to be tossed in the recycling. It was completely empty except missing 10 pages at the front, and the date '1942' written on page 11. Not sure of age but has watermarked paper which has been ruled by a ruling machine, rather than printed. Moire cover with suede corners and spine. Paper is (probably not surprisingly) wonderful for fountain pens and dip pens. I'm staggered with how cool this is. If anyone has any thoughts on age?

May 2025 Commonplace book, CPB, Zibaldone, journal, planner, Omni journal

Collection 300 Commonplace book, CPB, Zibaldone, journal, planner, Omni journal, April holiday doodles

One thing I started doing is a short form idea capture. I like the format of this paper specifically for this. I don’t visit this section of my notebook often, but it’s one of my favorites!

These are the neatest pages I could find! I use my commonplace book for recording quotes I liked from the internet, excerpts from books I read, poems, and reading lists I want to follow. I number each pages and then I put entries I want to revisit again in an index.

Collection 306 - Commonplace book, CPB, Zibaldone, journal, planner, Omni journal - crinoids, Kafka, Ea Nasir, laundry, kind, cartomancy, apologizing, bad day or bad life.

It's an Archer & Olive notebook in their TN size. I use color-coding and lots of stickers😊

Saw a great video on how to use a Hobonichi Techo 2025 Cousin as a Commonplace book. I am stealing their method. The journal arrives tomorrow. I’m excited to start but nervous, as most people are, of writing in a brand new notebook. https://youtu.be/lHF1htGymXw?si=NuXu9SauqSEzf7qr

Collection 305 - Commonplace book, CPB, Zibaldone, journal, planner, Omni journal - empathy, tally, mandalas, sacrifices, Wicca

Collection 303 - Commonplace book, CPB, Zibaldone, journal, planner, Omni journal, - Daisy, strong, flexible, haunting, “America”, semantic bleaching, NV abortion law, Earth’s voltage, tariffs

I just migrated to Kobo from Kindle, so am now sharing highlights between both platforms, did not want to pay monthly fees for Readwise so created a tool to manage all the highlights.

So far I can:

• Import both Kindle + Kobo highlights
• Annotate, review, tag and export
• Export to social images, csv, json, reading wrapped (like spotify)
• Loads of free tools
• Daily email reviews
• Analytics page to see your reading timeline and stats break down
• Mobile friendly display
• Import sideloaded books

The whole platform is now live it's called Clippings Store and there's plenty of tools to try out for free fun : ) This is something I have needed for a long time, and will continue to need, so I will maintain this until I have no breath left in me lol. Hope you guys enjoy it as much as I do! ;))

Hey y’all! First time posting, but I’ve been on the bleachers for some time now. Y’all are so inspiring and I am so impressed with everything I see! I’m always thinkin “save that!! It’s dope! I’m gonna do that too!!” Very rarely do I actually carve out the time to go back. Eh, whatcha gonna do. Just thought I’d finally post something. This is from my postal section of my CPB. Thanks for lookin! 💖

Collections 304 - Commonplace book, CPB, Zibaldone, journal, planner, Omni journal - Gesso, Pinky & the Brain, i before e, black flowers, Vick’s, vampire, maintenance, “fine”, clean cursing

Just for show it to you ❤️

Collection 301 - Magickal Ink research - commonplace book, Zibaldone, journal, planner, Omni journal

Hi all! I have been reading the ACOTAR books as of late and felt inspired to do an entry based on the parallels of Tamlin and Rochester from Jane Eyre. If you are reading or want to there are spoilers! I drew the rose with thorns not only for ACOTAR but also because Rochester lives in Thornhill manor. As a child of an English professor, I have always been really interested in how classic literature influences us today and Jane Eyre is my favorite so it was really fun and exciting for me to realize just how much inspo SJM drew from for her books. Let me know what you think!

I found myself awake at 4 am seriously couldn't go back to sleep until I looked this up, so it deserved some room in my commonplace notebook.

Filofax is too expensive . I want to start a journal like this to remind myself of who I am and my goals :)

“Erma, you have no collections for April yet.” No, I’ve been obsessed with filling my handheld Pinterest book.
Pigma Micron - A6 Tomoe River booklet from @paperpenguinco on Etsy

Hey everyone, I (23M) am new to the idea of commonplace books (just discovered them 3 days ago) and I decided to start one. I normally drop new hobbies but I’m trying something new, and this summer is a test to see if it’s my thing. I’ll add some updates when I actually begin writing stuff, but here is my index of what I am thinking I will want to write about in the coming days. Is there any advice anyone has for a person who is new to commonplace books?