The commonplace book of Ben Jonson (1572-1637) was published posthumously in 1640, entitled "Timber, or discoveries made upon men and matter". It is fascinating and fun.
Seven years ago, in a puppy-related incident, our copy of that book was destroyed. Recently, in thinking about why we blog, and what a blog is, I was reminded of commonplace books, and of my late, lamented copy of Timber. So, online, I found and ordered a copy of the same edition we'd lost – the 1892 edition, edited by one Prof. Felix E. Schelling of the University of Pennsylvania.
It arrived yesterday, and I was pleased to see that this replacement volume was in much better shape than our old one (even before it was chewed up). I showed the book to my wife, mentioning that it was more than 100 years old, but had cost less than 20 dollars (including shipping).
Well, no*. But it turns out that, yes, it is available on Google Books. In the very same 1892 Shelling edition. And yes, it's free to download.
So yesterday, I also got a free pdf of Timber. And today, NeuroCooking friend, you too can get a free copy, if you wish. My, how the book business has changed.
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*Whoops, um, yes, you can find Timber on Project Gutenberg. [late edit, with apologies; but forgive me for missing it the first time, because Project Gutenberg lists this work simply as "Discoveries" with no "Timber" in sight!]
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