What is the oldest book you have? Is there a story behind it?

I have two. The oldest is a book called "Poems" by Charles Dickens, hardback, published in 1885. It's been handed down in my husband's family and is in very good condition considering its age.

The other has been handed down in my family. It's called "The Century Atlas of the World" (1902, also hardback). It is fascinating to examine the maps and see the border changes which have occurred and countries which no longer exist (in a sense).

I have many wonderful, old books tucked away safely here, and this is a great excuse to rumage through them again over the weekend.

I really don't know which the oldest will turn out to be, but amongst my favourites are Charles Darwin's "The Origins of Species" and "The Voyage of the Beagle" (both clothbound 2nd editions), and Hendrik Willem Van Loon's "The Story of Mankind".

I have a Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue released in 1900. It does not even list Australian stamps, as we were not even a country till the following year. It is interesting to see how many countries have changed their names in the last 100+ years.

I have a old copy of "Reynard the Fox" by John Masefield, I think. It has no dust jacket but has a label inside with a book shop/owner. And this person who owned book shop has signed in in 1927,and it also has a newspaper cut out of the author glued into it. Nor bad for £1, from a charity shop! No idea how much it is worth though.

I have the family Bible, does that count? It goes back to 1700's.
Otherwise I have notes on the parish of Mylor (in Cornwall where my family comes from) printed 1907.My daughter now has the books written by my Great great grandfather, a famous Wesleyan Minister in the early 1800's

Like Izzi, it will take a bit of searching for me to find the oldest book, we have many old ones. Probably 1860's or so, but I'll check.

As we moved 2 years ago, I've been digging around through boxes in the garage; and found these three:

• "Our First Century" by RM Devens; CA Nichols & Co, Springfield Mass. 1880
  Full Title - "Our First Century or the One Hundred Great and Memorable Events in he History of Our Country During the One Hundred Years of its Existence 1776-1876"
  
• "The Life of Queen Victoria" by G Barnett Smith; George Routledge & Sons Limited, London 1901
  
• "Co-Partnership and Profit-Sharing" by Aneurin Williams; Williams & Norgate, London 1919

Our First Century was a swap - it was owned by a Barrister in town - he gave me the book, and I gave him the common seal of a delisted public company (metal seal with base and handle that perforated the paper). The other two were found in a bookshop in London.
All three are unmarked .. ozzz2002, MotherGoose et. al., please note!

I wasn’t sure at first whether we were talking about the books that are literally oldest or the ones that we have owned longest.

I haven’t got any heirlooms like Ren’s family bible or Mother Goose’s books. The book I’ve had longest must be a grubby little thing called “Elizabeth Our Queen,” which was a Coronation gift from the Mayor to schoolchildren in my town. It’s by Richard Dimbleby: I’ve always thought of old Dumblebore as one of the greatest deadpan comedians of all time, but some people tell me that he intended his reverential commentaries on coronations and suchlike to be listened to seriously.

I’ve got a few books that I’ve acquired which were published in the nineteenth century. The two oldest that I can find (both in woeful condition with front covers detached) are an edition of Dante’s “Divine Comedy” (Florence, 1838) and one of the Odes of Horace (Zürich, 1843). The Horace has on the flyleaf the name of one “C. Booth, K. S. (i.e. King’s Scholar), Eton, 1844.” Both of them are typical nineteenth-century works of scholarship, with small-print footnotes that take up about three-quarters of every page. Perhaps I ought to get round to reading them some time.

Well, the oldest book that I can put my hand on right now is called "Archery, Fenching, &c..". It's one of Routledges's sixpenny Handbooks, and has a publication date of 1863. I think it's actually from a little later than that, though, as the inscription (in a fine, copperplate hand) is dated 30.10.78 (with a Latin tag, no less!)

Does a page from the original King James Bible count? I have about a million old books, but no original copies. I doubt anything in my collection was published more than 75 years ago; not that I particularly mind. I'd destroy it from constant use.

I have a copy of "The Jungle Book" from 1895, the year in which it was published. Not a first edition, unfortunately, but a very nice one nonetheless. Gold edged pages and in nice condition. It cost me 10p on the book stall at a village fete several years ago.

Wow lots of interesting books listed in this thread.
MaggieG just out of interest does your copy of "The Jungle Book" from 1895 have a reversed swastika printed anywhere on or in it? I only ask as I have a 1910 copy of "Actions And Reactions" that has a swastika on the cover and a reversed swastika with Kipling surrounded by a circle printed on the inside cover.

http://www.kipling.org.uk/facts_swastik.htm Just some info about Kipling and the swastika.

Yeah, I have a batch of those Kiplings too - "Plain Tales", Life's Handicap", "Under the Deodars", and "Departmental Ditties". Talking Kipling, I also have a nice 1923 book that I think was specially commissioned for Scouts, it's a collection of previously published stories that would appeal to Scouts and Guides, called "Land and Sea Tales for Scouts and Guides". Baden-Powell of course made a lot of use of Kipling's stories in his original Scouting material, Kim's Game and Jungle Law, etc.

I'm a dreadful hoarder when it comes to books, and only very rarely do I ever part with them. Sadly, many of mine haven't even seen the light of day for a decade or two, but I've had the most entertaining couple of hours delving through the first of several old boxes of books and I've unearthed some real gems.

"The Book of Noble Englishwomen - Lives Made Illustrious By Heroism, Goodness & Great Attainments" a 1st edition, dated 1876

The preface reads:
QUOTE
"It is impossible in the compass of one volume to include the names of all those Englishwomen who have become memorable by their lives, their deeds, or their words. England has been richly blessed with noble women ; women who have shed a glory upon the annals of Literature, Art, and Science ; women whose names have become household words, the synonyms for purity, goodness and virtue ; women who have inspired the patriot to do and dare for his country's good, the soldier to the heroic deed on the battlefield ; women who, in success, have urged to higher achievement, and in failure have been the ministering angel and consoler ; women whose smile has been the sunlight of home, and whose love has been the shield for husband and child against the degradation of dishonour, and the meanness and crime of wrong-doing. Their names will never be erased from our national story ; the memory of their deeds, when and wherever performed, the world will not willingly let die."

It's interestesting to note how the punctuation has changed over the years. "...Literature, Art, and Science ;" Extra spaces left before the semi colon, and we Brits would no longer use the comma after "Art", am I correct in thinking that Americans still do?

My beautifully bound, gilt edged copy has been inscribed as a prize for writing to a talented young scholar, Miss Alisson King. December 20th 1876

My goodness didn't they gush back in the good, old days. How could it possibly have failed to inspire her?

Two others I've had the pleasure of poking into are from a series published by Peter & Galpin Cassell.

"Cassell's Illustrated Readings conducted by Tom Hood", Vol 1 A wondrous collection of short stories and poetry, that I really must make the time to read through. Alas, no date is printed in the book but I noticed that a few of the selections are marked "By kind permission of the Author". One such piece is "Mrs. Gamp's Apartment" by Charles Dickens, who died in 1870, so it must have been published earlier than that.

"Cassell's History of England" Vol 1, again undated, but my copy is marked "Special Edition" with a publisher's slip pasted inside stating "THIS EDITION, being specially prepared for Subscription, is not obtainable through the general Booksellers. CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED". Another copy listed on the internet gives 1861 as being the year first published.

This also has inscriptions inside the front cover, the first reads "Presented, with fond love, to my eldest son" but unfortunately the date is illegible. Then further down the page there is another inscription in copperplate handwriting, dated much later. It is signed
Archibald. J.R. Fabian. September 28th. 1898. I couldn't resist looking up the name and through a Google search I found young Archie listed as a student of Varndean College, Brighton, for the year 1891.

http://www.oldvarndeanians.org.uk/vboys/yearlists/y1891.html

Underneath the date is handwritten Eseveeen / Esier with a few extra flourishes that might be apostrophes. Can anyone translate or decipher that for me, please?

Oooh, what fun, I'm really enjoying this treasure hunt. Thanks for raising the idea, MotherGoose.

Thanks for the reference for Kipling and the swastika, roos. That is a bit of obscure trivia that I didn't know and was startled to discover.

I searched through my copy of "The Jungle Book" and could find no trace of a swastika at all, sadly. It would have been interesting. I notice that the website you gave said his fascination dated from the last decade of the century, so perhaps mine just predated it appearing in his books.
On the flyleaf, in copperplate handwriting it says "Alfred Mew from G. Welby March 18th 1895". Terribly formal in those days weren't they?

You`re very welcome John.
I just did a quick check of a few of my books and found one that`s dated 1891. "Nil Desperandum" by Rev. Frederick Langbridge, M.A. I don`t think I`ll ever read it though,it`s a bit preachy from the look of the first page.
A fortunate event did occur whilst I was checking out the ages of books, $200.00 in fifties fell out of one of them! I don`t recall hiding it there but who cares, I can buy some more books[wish that I had found it a week ago before I was outbid on a signed 2nd edition copy of "The Man From Snowy River" by Banjo Patterson].
Anyone ever find anything interesting hidden between the pages of books or tucked away in the spine?

I have two 'sets' of encyclopaedias, Australian ones - one from 1926 and one from 1951. The 1926 version only has two volumes, and the 1951 only has three! They're all in perfect nick and were handed down from my Grandparents!

I believe the oldest book I have is "The Poems of Tennyson, 1830 - 1865" with a publish date of March 1908. It's in shabby shape, but it came to me that way, for $1 at a thrift store. I bought it as much for the pencil inscription on the inside leaf as for the book itself. It says "Tennyson' death occured at Aldworth - Oct 6, 1892 and was marked by a solemn grandeur in keeping with the loftiness of the great soul that was then "Crossing the Bar". This was his last poem."

I'm really not sure whether I have anything older or not as currently most of my books are in storage. Especially the old or fragile ones. (Toddlers are not kind to books, you know.) I know I have quite a large number of books from about 1910 to 1920, including one world atlas and a charming little book called "Cousin Maude" by Mary J Holmes. (Some contemporary biographies compared her to Harriet Beecher Stowe, but I must confess to never having heard of her before I found this book.) It was first published in 1860, but I believe my copy of the book is considerably later than that. It was inscribed in 1910, but I don't think the book itself is marked. I note this book is readily available as an ebook as the copyright on it is long since gone. I recommend it for a bit of light reading on an afternoon. Lovely, really. She wrote like a lighter version of the Bronte sisters. Similar stories, but less head involved in reading them.

The oldest book I have is a textbook called "Stepping Stones To Literature" it belonged to my great aunt. The book was published in 1902.

My grandmother was a collector of antiques and when she died, I inherited quite a lot of items from her estate. It's been quite a while since I've been home to check the dates, but the oldest book (not counting the family Bible) was a book of Civil War illustrations by Frank Leslie. The date was either 1895 or 1896. Since I'm a Civil War buff, this is quite a prized possession. The next oldest is Mark Twain's, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, with Mr. Twain's signature stamped on the inside cover. I think the date on this one was 1901.

Mine is a very small, leather bound collection of Tennyson's poems. The date is 1880 something. No special story...my great aunt had it, and when she died my Mom asked me if I wanted it, and I said OF COURSE. It is not in pristine condition.

The oldest literary volumes in my possession are:

1. James Thomson, "Poetic Works" published in 2 volumes bound as one. The 2nd volume is dated 1801 and the 1st is dated 1800. The binding is light brown leather and dates from c. 1801-4. The condition is good, except that there is some sign of wear at the front hinge. In view of the fact that Thomson died in 1748 this isn't particularly early.

2. Shelley, "Queen Mab", no date, but probably c. 1840 or possibly very slightly earlier ... The work was immensely popular among the Chartists. The binding is dark green cloth and the overall condition is generally good.

I bought both books in the 1980s. I'll never forget the bookseller's remark when I bought "Queen Mab". He said, "I hope you're aware that you've bought one of the most subversive works of English literature. "

I've always taken an interest in the history of education in England and I have some old books used in schools - and also a very old copy in Latin of excerpts from the Statutes (Regulations) of the University of Oxford. It appeared in 1674 and is, as far as I know, the 2nd collection of excerpts from the Laudian Statutes of 1636. It is well bound in dark brown leather, and shows signs of wear, which is not suprising in view of its purpose. (Such books were often bought by freshmen from graduating students and resold again).

Among the schoolbooks one of the oldest and most interesting is the 7th edition of Richmal Mangnall's "Questions". The volume appeared in 1808, the first edition was published in 1800. The books was hugely succesful till the early 1870s, especially in what came to be called 'Middle Class Schools for Girls'. Unlike many later editions, which contain a chaotic miscellany of questions (rather like some quizzes in the General category of FT) this early edition treats a whole range of topics systematically, such as the English system of justice. It has questions (with very clear answers and further information) on matters like "What is a grand jury?" In some ways there are echoes of good FT quizzes here.

Obviously, the ephemera are scarce, as such books were often thrown away when they fell to pieces or were superseded by newer editions.

I bought all these books and none of them is an heirloom.

Maybe not as old but "The Modern Children's Library of Knowledge" Book six...The school companion. 1957 I think
Tells children of the day about nursery rhyme etc and working up to mathematics etc. Enid Blyton wrote some of it. I got it because one of my old teachers was retiring and he was clearing out the storeroom
Lovely to read the old fashioned words in it! (Well they seem old fashioned now a days anyway!)