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Matthew Parris

Why it’s time to revive the commonplace book

A collection often tells us more, unwittingly, about its compiler than a self-description would

13 December 2014

9:00 AM

13 December 2014

9:00 AM

Among the gifts that have come my way this Christmas season, none has given me pleasure more immediate or more lasting than Kenneth Baker’s new commonplace book, More Rags of Time.

I dislike the title. It sounds precious, as does Lord Wavell’s famous and wonderful poetry anthology Other Men’s Flowers; or Palgrave’s Golden Treasury.

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