Artifact: Widdifield Notebook
Materials: Leather binding, paper pages
Dimensions:
Date: 1704-1720
Origin: England
Collection: Digital Library for the Decorative Arts and Material Culture
License: Public Domain
Ledger Entry: Blank Book
Department: Literacy
Customer: Dr. Walter Stewart
Ledger Page: 162
Imported From: Blank books were bound by printers in the American colonies, but they were also imported from England.
Product Description
Blank books were, as their name implies, bound volumes of blank paper. They could serve whatever function the owner needed. John Widdifield, for one, used his blank book as a journal to catalog the various carpentry and varnishing techniques he employed, but blank books were frequently used as account books as well.
Citation: Martin, Ann Smart. Buying Into the World of Goods: Early Consumers in Backcountry Virginia. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008): 189-190.;
Historical Price: 1 shilling, 6 pence; Modern USD: $16.8
Product Variations
The databases record three blank books and a blank copy book. The databases record no further qualifiers indicating size, quality, or number of sheets; however, their range in price from three pence for a blank book to one shilling six pence for a blank copy book indicate that such variation likely existed.
