Introduction to Ed's PhD Sketchbooks

The pile!

I'm making posts about all these! Click on the links below to see some of the most relevant/ significant/ interesting/ fun bits in each sketchbook:

IB series

A 29/5/18 - 20/8/18

B 20/8/18 - 14/9/19 

C 15/9/19 - 9/11/19

D 9/11/19 - 20/2/20

E 20/2/20 - 17/3/20

F 18/3/20 - 8/4/20

G 8/4/20 - 28/7/20

H 28/7/20 - 18/9/20

I 20/9/20 - 29/10/20

J 30/10/20 - 3/5/21

K 4/5/21 - 4/11/21

L 8/11/21 - 31/12/21

M 1/1/22 - 22/3/22

N 23/3/22 - 26/4/22

O 28/4/22 - 10/7/22

P 10/7/22 - ongoing

SB series

A 16/3/19 - 17/7/19

B 17/7/19 - 24/11/19

C 24/11/19 - 6/2/20

D 7/2/20 - 17/10/22

E some time in 2017 - 22/4/21

F 24/4/21 - 9/10/22

G 23/10/22 - 30/12/22

H 1/1/23 - ongoing

A4B series

A 12/7/18 - ongoing

B early 2019 - March 2020

C early 2019 - 3/3/21

D August 2020 - March 2021

E March 2021 - 11/8/21

F September 2021 - ongoing 

(Bonus content!) 

For some reason, I didn't usually mark the exact dates in the A4 series.

All of the above posts (except the bonus content post) have links to timelapse videos of each sketchbook, in which I flip through them and show you each page, just to show the sheer volume of work that I've done for my PhD.

Here's what I said about them in my thesis:

I created a reference system for my sketchbooks. PhD sketchbooks are typically indicated by a string of letters, followed by the date. The IB series are my main sketchbooks (IB stands for “investigation book”) and are approximately A5 when closed, or slightly smaller. The SB series (SB means “small book”) are usually around A6 when closed, and I also have an A4 series. Each book is then coded with a letter in alphabetical order, and each entry in each book is dated, with the exception of some entries around the start of my PhD before I had developed my system.

At time of writing (June 2023), the IB series runs to 16 books, the SB series to 8 books, and the A4 series to 6 books. I am currently using IBP, SBH, A4BA, and A4BF.

I also have work relating to my PhD, my case study/ characters, and potential future projects in other sketchbooks.

The IB series are those ones with the brown covers (although IBA's cover faded to green in some places). Apparently boys at Bowes Hall Academy (at the other end of the village, run by George Clarkson) used copybooks with brown paper covers, so it's a sneaky reference to that! Read John Crosse Brooks's memories here (but you'll have to log in, also be warned there is a grim account of boys attempting cookery with birds).

Brooks says "The books and stationery formed a prominent feature in the school advertisement. These, of course, were really provided, but the books were marvels for dirt and dogs' ears, and the writing and ciphering books were mere sheets of common paper stitched together, with coarse brown paper covers, all in the most primitive and most economical manner possible."