Commonplace Books and Reading in Georgian England (Paperback)

1. The problem with reading: history and theory in the culture of Georgian England; Part I. Origins: 2. 'Many sketches and scraps of sentiments': what is a commonplace book?; 3. A very short history of commonplacing; 4. Commonplacing modernity: enlightenment and the necessity of note-taking; Part II. Form and Matter: 5. 'A sort of register or orderly collection of things: Locke and the organisation of wisdom; 6. The importance of being epigrammatic; 7. Manufacturing an encyclopaedia; Part III. Readers and Reading: 8. Critical autonomy and readership; 9. Dexterity and textuality: the experience of reading; Part IV. Ancient and Modern: 10. Sounding the muses' lyre: rhetoric and neo-classicism; 11. Invention and imitation: practising the art of composition; Part V. Texts and Tastes: 12. Taming the Bard: dramatic readings; 13. Commonplacing and the modern canon; Part VI. Anatomising the Self: 14. The selfish narrator; 15. Self-made news; 16. Reading excursions: on being transported; Envoi: 17. The rise of the novel and the fall of commonplacing: conjoined narratives?; Bibliography; Index.