Collections of such table talks by royal persons, celebrities, and other important personalities dating back to the 3rd century exist. The phrase
table talk has been in use in the
English language since the 16th century. As examples, published table talks exist for: •
Martin Luther (1483–1546), see
Table Talk; •
John Selden (1584–1654); •
John Milton (1608–1674); •
Samuel Johnson (1707–1784); •
Frederick the Great (1712–1786); •
Johann von Goethe (1749–1832), see
Gespräche mit Goethe; •
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821); •
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827), see ; •
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834); see
Specimens of the Table Talk of the Late Samuel Taylor Coleridge •
Amos Bronson Alcott (1799–1888); •
Alexander Pushkin (1799–1837), see Table-talk •
George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950); •
Adolf Hitler (1889–1945), see "
Hitler's Table Talk"; •
Wystan Hugh Auden (1907–1973); •
Orson Welles (1915–1985). Occasionally, comments are collected from others by a notable person as part of that person's working notes and may survive in the papers of that person.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, for example, kept notes on the conversations of his family and friends, many of whom, of course, were noteworthy. ==References==