Bank of England, April 5, 1851.
_Meaning of Waste-Book_ (Vol. iii., pp. 118. 195. 251.).--Among a list of
"the books printed for, and are to be sold by John Hancock, at the sign of
the Three Bibles in Pope's-head Alley, in Cornhill," I find _The Absolute
Accountant, or London Merchant_, containing instructions and directions for
the methodical keeping of merchant's accounts, after the most exact and
concise way of debtor and creditor; also a _Memorial_, vulgarly called a
waste-book, and a cash-book, with a journal and a ledger, &c., 1670. This
is the first reference I have seen to the correct designation of the book,
which might have received it vulgar name of _waste_ from wast, the second
person of _was_--thus the Memorial or the Wast-book.