The oldest book you own?

MagicMarker

I had to buy a 2nd hand paperback off eBay which I received today, because I couldn't find it new on any of the usual sites. Turns out in was published in 1971, which probably isn't that old really but I was kind of taken aback when I read it. I couldn't help but think of how many book shelves it's sat on, how many people have read it before me over the previous 40 years. It was quite an incredible feeling I must say!

Oh, and the UK price of the book at the time was 40p. :eek:

cloud493

I've got a book about the Jewish communities in Britain from 1937.

mattjack

Three books of Shakespeares publications .. 1934 .

Paid the princely sum of 1 euro 50 cents.

GarIT

Lord of the Rings from 2003.

patsman07

Grandfather died a few years back and when we were clearing out his house I found a book "History of Ireland" published in the 1880's.

hooplah

I have a page from the Nuremberg Chronicle. Printed in 1493 it's a world history based on the best information available at the time, mostly the Bible(!). It was actually printed 5 years before Columbus 'discovered' America which I think is mindblowing.

x_Ellie_x

I've got a copy of Black Beauty from 1959. I found it when I was a kid in my grandparents attic and I still have it.

emeraldstar

Have at least one from the 1870s/1880s that I know of. So many old, old books lying around my house though, but more especially at my granny's house, a lot of which would be from the late 1800s, so god knows what I might find if I went looking.

Giselle

I've quite a few books from around the turn of the last century, but the two that mean the most to me are my Readers Digest Atlas (1962) and my later edition of Mrs Beetons Book of Household Management (1912).

Both fascinate me by adeptly illustrating how much the world has changed.

The Princess Bride

Enid Blyton-Tales at Bedtime from 1966-I remembered some of the stories from when I was a child,so bought it for my own children a few years ago.

2rkehij30qtza5

A book of maps of Ireland from 1820.
My father collects rare books and goes off to auctions in Dublin and even abroad to get them. He has ones that go back to the 1600's. Very valuable.

I picked up a copy of Paradise Lost from 1841 for a grand total of 50c!!! It's absolutely beautiful, totally intact but with a definite used/loved look, and three different messages inside the front cover, the first dated 1842. My favourite book by far.

Tea_Bag

hooplah wrote: »

I have a page from the Nuremberg Chronicle. Printed in 1493 it's a world history based on the best information available at the time, mostly the Bible(!). It was actually printed 5 years before Columbus 'discovered' America which I think is mindblowing.

if its any way possible could you get a high quality scan or photograph of it? I'd love to read that!

Toby Take a Bow

I think the oldest is a weird Mark Twain book, Adam's Diary, from 1904.

hooplah

Tea_Bag wrote: »

if its any way possible could you get a high quality scan or photograph of it? I'd love to read that!

It's available online but you won't get much out of it if you don't read Latin or German.

The wikipedia page is great
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_Chronicle

There's more info here:
http://www.lib.umd.edu/RARE/Exhibits/Nuremberg/

and you can see an online copy here:
http://www.wdl.org/en/item/4108/

cloud493

Whoever it was that said about Enid Blyton books, I got a few of them, I have a first edition of the first famous five book from the war.

later12

My Dad has some British military manuals from the mid 19th century, the most interesting one of which is a cavalry manual that deals with obsolete riding practices like riding in formations and even training a horse to play dead. Most of the other books are concerned with regimental uniforms and dress codes, a topic which appears to have been a matter of greater concern to the British army than any ethical questions regarding their activities!

Setun

Can't remember what the oldest book I own is, but I recently bought The Penguin Dictionary of Computer Terminology published in 1973 I think. I got it more as a curiosity, it's funny the terms defined in it that have passed into obsolescence decades ago at this stage.

Blue Bitch

I have a book named

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
The oldest book i own

Gneez

1938 British library copy of Mein Kampf.

later12

Gneez wrote: »

1938 British library copy of Mein Kampf.

Cool. in English or German?

Jimmy Iovine

"The Origin of Species" by Charles Darwin. It was printed in 1902. I found it a few months ago on my dad's bookshelf. He thinks he bought it 15 years ago from some shop for about a 5er. I think he used it for a thesis that he was writing at the time.

It's still in very good condition so I doubt that it was used all that much over the last 110 years.

I'm not sure if I've any interest in reading it yet. I might just keep it for another while and I may read it in the end. If not then I could always sell it on.

There's a person on this site selling the exact same copy for £200. If I'm ever stuck for a few bob I could sell it on. I'm gutted that it's not a hardback copy. If it was then going by this site I could get around £400 for it.

Memory Of 98

My oldest book is from 1853.

The collected speeches of Henry Grattan, amazing book! Very inspirational, even if he does waffle a lot.

It's not copyright also, I believe the copyright has run out, maybe someone will put together a modern revision.

Ps. It's in terrible condition. I bought it in the Oxfam bookshop, Dublin, for 20 euro.

Sulla Felix

I have a 1950s print of Dracula. My brother found it left behind in a house he moved into and gave it to me to read when I was a teenager.

ViveLaVie

I have a blue leather-bound edition of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. Not sure when it was published but there is a note inside dated 1901.

Red Hand

I have an English dictionary from the 1940's, but that probably doesn't count?

soap1978

I have a book call the bible,it is very very old and full of great storys

Sulla Felix

Red Hand wrote: »

I have an English dictionary from the 1940's, but that probably doesn't count?

If it has an entry for poppycock, you can have my allocation of internets for the month.

Red Hand

Sulla Felix wrote: »

If it has an entry for poppycock, you can have my allocation of internets for the month.

I'd have to check...I don't having the dashed rummy thing with me.:pac:

The Mad Hatter

The most interesting thing I've found - though this is in my parents' house - is a cobwebby old copy of Time Magazine. It's the Man of the Year edition, and the MOTY named is Joseph Stalin!

I think I have a couple of 19th century books lying around somewhere, though I'm damned if I can remember what. I suppose this is what comes of doing a lot of book shopping in second-hand stores...

I'm fairly certain that when I was a kid I read some very old copies of Dickens, and the first book I ever fell in love with, which I used to read under the desk in senior infants, was an early 20th century copy of Pinnocchio, which I think had been passed down in my family for a generation or two.

MagicMarker

The Mad Hatter wrote: »

The most interesting thing I've found - though this is in my parents' house - is a cobwebby old copy of Time Magazine. It's the Man of the Year edition, and the MOTY named is Joseph Stalin!

I think I have a couple of 19th century books lying around somewhere, though I'm damned if I can remember what. I suppose this is what comes of doing a lot of book shopping in second-hand stores...

I'm fairly certain that when I was a kid I read some very old copies of Dickens, and the first book I ever fell in love with, which I used to read under the desk in senior infants, was an early 20th century copy of Pinnocchio, which I think had been passed down in my family for a generation or two.

Stalin!?! pfft....

Get yourself the 1938 MOTY.

The Mad Hatter

MagicMarker wrote: »

Stalin!?! pfft....

Get yourself the 1938 MOTY.

Heh, yeah, I saw that when I went looking on Wikipedia for the year Stalin got it.

dr gonzo

I came across some old Dickens in a charity shop in London (I'm sure they're a dime a dozen). I ended up buying a copy of the pickwick papers which was not only from the early 20th century but it has a fantastic little inscription in it (which I cant recall). But to mirror a point above, I love the idea of the amount od shelves its sat on and the lives its been in, and the inscription is a small little insight into one of those lives 100 years ago. Wonderful!

Fenian Army

Prayer book from the 1850s, beautiful book, mind boggling when you think about it

Einhard

hooplah wrote: »

I have a page from the Nuremberg Chronicle. Printed in 1493 it's a world history based on the best information available at the time, mostly the Bible(!). It was actually printed 5 years before Columbus 'discovered' America which I think is mindblowing.

Can I have it?

Please?

Seriously, that's an amazing thing to have. Mind if I ask how you got your hands on it? I was in Florence a few years back, and some antiquarian bookshops were selling single capital letters from medieval manuscripts for over €100! :eek:

hooplah

Einhard wrote: »

Seriously, that's an amazing thing to have. Mind if I ask how you got your hands on it? I was in Florence a few years back, and some antiquarian bookshops were selling single capital letters from medieval manuscripts for over €100! :eek:

Actually I got it from e-bay. There were quite a lot of copies of the book printed, and most have understandably been damaged over time so its fairly commonly available in single sheets. I did a god bit of research and was confident what I was buying was genuine and that no books had been harmed etc etc (a complete copy would be worth many times more than a full colection of single shets)

Cutting single letters out though? That strikes me as vandalism

getz

i have a book called, : the life of charlotte bronte: by e,c gaskell [elizabeth gaskell] ,its printed in 1866.

pauline fayne

The oldest book I have is 'The Rural Harp' by Patrick Reilly published in 1861 . It belonged to my grandfather . It is a book of verse , mainly about people and places around Meath / Monaghan .

Ken.

I have 2 really old books.
The first is called Historical and Future Eclipses( with notes on planets,double stars and other celestial matters) by Rev.S.J. Johnson, M.A. F.R.A.S. printed in 1896. It is incredibly accurate to this day and has eclipses that will happen until the year 2498. It reads 2498, 10 June. Ingress of Venus about half-past four this morning. Egress about noon. On the inside cover written in pencil is the name A Sullivan 1900. Also has Valuable book,out of print 1940.

The second book is called Class-Book of Geology by Sir Archibald Geikie, F.R.S. Printed in 1897. It is illustrated with woodcuts. There is a printed address label on the inside that is printed W.P. Webb, 5 Upper Ely Place,Dublin 1899.

r3nu4l

Nothing very old here but I do have a 1906 copy of 'Charles Dickens' by G. K. Chesterton.

I also had about twenty to thirty different books of the Famous Five (Enid Blyton) and the Three investigators (Alfred Hitchcock presents) series from the 1960's that my uncles and aunts owned when they were kids.

Not books but I also used to own loads of of 'commando' comics, from the 1960's and 1970's until they were thrown away by someone who thought I was 'finished' with them

Memory Of 98

I also have an encyclopedia of Ireland #Part 1 - 1900

It has some amazing hand drawn pictures in it, and it weighs about a ton.

getz

got some old newspapers from 1858

clarabows

CONFESSIONS OF AN ACTOR by John Barrymore...1926, with dustjacket too

RDM_83 again

Neither of these are the oldest books owned but I enjoy the historic irony of them

I have: Poland: Key to Europe published 1939
My folks own: Recollections of troubled times in Irish politics published 1905


I remember the Trinity college Booksale used to be good for picking up old books for very cheap (I think the 1st day is reserved for dealers though)

Denerick

My bookish grandfather died about 10 years ago and left all his books to his bookish grandson. I've loads from the mid 19th century. The collection I'm most fond of is a set of encyclopedias from the turn of the century (20th) which probably were the single greatest motivation for me to go on to do a history degree. (The bias was outstanding - some of the articles on race and gender reflected the social darwinism of the day)

BopNiblets

Oldest published probably Don Quixote, 1605.
Not sure about printed, probably some 70s stuff I robbed from my parents bookcase.

Bannasidhe

Ireland under Elizabeth and James I published in Edinburgh in 1891, the complete set (7 vols) of Justin McCarthy's History of our own Times 1910 and my beloved Compossicion Booke of Conought 1936. All prized possessions.

I am sooooo jelous of hooplah and his page from a Nuremberg Bible.

The oldest document's I have held in my cotton gloved hands were signed by Henry VI in 1490.

kylith

I think I have one somewhere with an inscription dated 1903.

The oldest ones on my bookshelves are
The Sorrows of Satan or The Strange Experience of one Geoffrey Tempest, Millionaire by Marie Corelli, dated 1917. It's a fantastic read.
Gone to Earth by Mary Webb, dated 1928.
Precious Bane, also by Mary Webb, also dated 1928. Those two look to be part of a set.
The Isles of Unwisdom by Robert Graves, dated 1952.

I got them all from a book sale in Trinity. I bought them for no other reason than they were nicely bound old books that would look nice on a shelf, and I've thouroughly enjoyed reading every one of them, especially Sorrows of Satan. I paid between 50c and €2 for them.

paddymayoman

Ulysess

Dr.Zeus

Mathematics for the Millions (1954)

It was probably v.exciting back then, alas......

Enkidu

Crádh agus Grádh - a feminist novel in Irish, from 1901.

I do have stuff from earlier but this one is maximises the combination of age and uniqueness.