Notebooks, English Virtuosi, and Early Modern Science by Richard Yeo (review)

Richard Yeo’s latest monograph is the first to offer an in-depth analysis of the notes and notebooks of several key figures of the Scientific Revolution, including Robert Boyle, John Locke, Robert Hooke, and John Evelyn, all of whom were important members of the Royal Society of London. They used the Renaissance humanist method of ‘excerpting from texts to build storehouses of proverbs, maxims, quotations and other material in personal notebooks’, culminating in ‘“commonplace” books’, so named as they centred ‘in a common place, under subject or topic headings’ (p. xii). These English virtuosi created their own scholarly archives on a variety of pertinent topics, upon which they – and often others – could draw, leaving a lasting influence on scientific inquiry via their notes and notebooks.

Yeo’s ground-breaking book offers insight into the often overlooked importance of such notes, both the writing and the using of them. He reveals the tension that exists between writing and memory: ‘notes can preserve a tiny part of a lost whole, or act as pithy condensations of ideas never fully committed to paper. Notes work to jog the memory of those who make them, or serve as records for others, including future generations’ (p. xi). Yeo uses references from scientific ‘moderns’, like René Descartes and Michel de Montaigne, to justify the dedication of an entire book to notes. Neither Montaigne nor Descartes held memory in high esteem. Montaigne admitted his was an ‘untrustworthy sieve’ and, as such, ‘could not take on any commission without … [his] … jotter’. In 1648, Descartes advocated to Frans Burman, a Dutch theology student, that one should ‘“test”’ oneself in order to see if one is “good at remembering”’, fully recognising the limits of memory. He advocated the use of notes as a ‘necessary support’ (p. 39) to one’s work.

According to Yeo, notes and notebooks acted as ‘talismans’, providing important insights into the ‘underpinnings of a published text’ (p. xi). They were also imperative to those studying subjects whose applicable resources had not yet been collected, collated, and documented. In the seventeenth century, dictionaries and encyclopaedias only provided ‘starting point[s]’ for the newest subjects. Those researching these topics ‘had to embark on the laborious and long-term search for material not yet collected or collated, as well as comparing this to that currently available’ (p. 70). Even by today’s standards, the virtuosi were incredibly prolific; notes, the creation of archives, and the sharing of notes assisted in their endeavours.

By focusing on the surviving notes, notebooks, and letters in the papers of select seventeenth-century English intellectual figures, Yeo is able to demonstrate the new ways in which these intellectuals created new methods of managing materials both to aid memory and stimulate inquiry. He explores the types of notes and notebooks used in early modern Europe and historical understandings of the interconnecting links between memory, thinking, and notes; the act of note-taking itself, including methods and purposes of note-taking; how thinking about notes changed the emerging empirical sciences; personal archives, which included diaries, letters, network correspondences, and papers; and, finally, the concept of ‘collective note-taking’, which not only required its participants to ‘establish an archive that received material from various sources, but also to direct and regulate the ways in which information could be sought cooperatively and stored for future use’, with certain ‘protocols, and incentives’ enacted to entice implementation (p. 219). Like today’s Internet catalogues and databases, ‘collective notebooks’ were seen as a ‘“bank” of information, growing richer and more effective over time’ (p. 253), with its usage and reach ever expanding.

This important book serves to highlight our dependence on institutional archival systems, which were only in their infancy for the likes of the English virtuosi. Yeo has expertly demonstrated that the development of notes and note-taking by the virtuosi had profound...