by Steve Laube
I love books, especially old or rare ones. Back in college I spent a couple months working in the back room of the university library repairing their rare book collection. I’ll never forget the awe of holding a copy of a book by Theodore Beza, a student of John Calvin, dated in the 1600s.
I also recall one Summer in Washington D.C. around the annual CBA bookseller’s convention when a friend and I wandered the stacks of the Library of Congress discovering extremely rare treasures.
Years later while visiting the Wade Center at Wheaton College I was able to browse the personal library of Dorothy Sayers, pulling books off the shelf to find her precise script in the margins. Another highlight in the collection is a wardrobe owned by C.S. Lewis (open it with care!).
The other day I wondered what was the oldest book I owned in my library? I have a few from the early 1800s which are really fun to examine, but it was the one pictured below that is oldest by over thirty years.
Looking Unto Jesus: A View of the Everlasting Gospel or the Soul’s Eying of Jesus, as Carrying on the great Work of Man’s Salvation, from First to Last by the great puritan Isaac Ambrose. This leatherbound edition is dated 1772 and was published in Glasgow, Scotland (in roman numeral it reads M,DCC,LXXII).
Think of the history. This book was printed four years before the founding of the United States. The author, Isaac Ambrose, died in 1664 but this particular book of his was so well loved that some who lived in that time mentioned it along with Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress as their favorite. (My copy is 636 pages long. Here is a link to a PDF of the book.)
But what makes this even more special is the signature of its first owners signed with a flourish on August 1, 1773. See below:
Two hundred and forty years ago Susannah Powells wrote her name as the proud owner of this book. Four months later, in December 1773, a little “tea party” occurred in Boston Harbor. A few years later a group of men signed their name to the Declaration of Independence. The popular music of that era is illustrated by the fact that in 1773 Mozart celebrated his 17th birthday and Beethoven turned three.
All this feeling of history flows when holding an old book.
Your Turn:
Tell us in the comments what the oldest book you have in your personal library! Let’s celebrate old books together.
I love old books. Loved the post and all the comments about old books. I have several older volumes, but this past year I was gifted with an illustrated copy of John Fox’s Book of the Martyrs published in 1813. What a thrill to look at a text that is 200 years old. The illustrations are incredible.
Love this post – love old books. I agree with April Gardner, about what’s considered old, as we live in the UK and the standard is different here. We’re actually visiting the northeast UK, and today went to Holy Island – Lindisfarne, where the monks created the Lindisfarne Gospels in about 700ad, which I’ve obviously never held. But one special time, when I was an acquisitions editor with a big UK publisher, I was talking to a potential author who worked at St Paul’s Cathedral. I got to go on a special behind-the-scenes tour and EVEN got to hold a Tyndale Bible! Way cool. This week we are going to visit Barter Books, one of the biggest second-hand bookshops in the UK, and the place where the famous Keep Calm poster was found in a box. I miss living in the States, but there are compensations… http://www.barterbooks.co.uk/
I have several gems next to my writing desk in my production studio. One is from 1791 EXPLANATORY NOTES UPON THE NEW TESTAMENT by John Wesley. First American Edition. My father purchased it in a used bookstore in the early 1960s in NYC.
Also have AS YOU LIKE IT from 1916, A MAN CALLED PETER by Catherine Marshall (1951) MARY ARDEN by Grace & Ruth Livinston Hill (1948) A GRAMMAR OF THE LATIN LANGUAGES (1884) THE HERITAGE OF THE DESERT by Zane Gray from 1910. This was my great grandfather’s book and one he read to my grandmother, my father and my father to me. They are what I treasure most in life and serve as inspiration to continue writing novels to become published. Part of the GREAT CLOUD OF WITNESSES in my family dating back over 150 years.
Oh… and a gem in storage; THE YAQUI GOLD by B.J. Cochran, whom my father knew in his little town of Aspermont Texas (70 miles NNW of Abilene). Autographed by the author and was part of my Texas Folklore graduate work 1994-2001 at UT El Paso with Dr. John O. West (folklore writer) and dean emeritus of the English Department. John was one of the greats suggesting I had a writing career at some point in time. God Bless him, my grand parents, parents and many who continue to suggest its on this narrow path and gate only a few find along the way.
I just got some serious goosebumpidge going on with this post. I can smell the musty perfume from the pages too!! I wish I could say I was the proud owner, but my Dad is actually the owner of a buckle-snap, hardbound copy of Pilgrim’s Progress with the quill and ink illustrations, dated 1700-something. Now I need to go pull that off his shelf and find out the exact date … and then use my puppy dog baby girl eyes to convince him to pass it on to the next generation. 🙂 🙂 🙂 *I’ll probably have to sign a waiver not to drink coffee when I’m around it
I have a beautiful January 1900 German edition of Ben Hur with embossed hard cover. The spine is detached, but the book is in surprisingly good condition otherwise. I’m sure my husband has books older than this. He’s the real book collector at our house.
I love old books but don’t have many of them. Great post, Steve. Two of the oldest books on my shelf are from Bestselling author Warren Wiersbe. They are his first books published when he was a teenager–and unusual because they are card trick books. Mental Cases with Cards was published in 1944 and Action with Cards was published in 1946. He signed both books for me but does not include these books on his list of published books–even though they were the first. Why? Because card playing is still frowned on in some conservative circles. They are prized possessions in my view.
Among my oldest books is a library size Webster’s Dictionary from 1865. The pages are yellowed and fragile, the cover is worn, but it is a treasure. It was given to me by a Harvard scholar who was ancient when I met him but he was thrilled that at a young age I was a poet and loved to write. He died long ago and never knew I’d become a novelist and even sold a few poems to magazines. He is still alive though in my memory.
My oldest book is my great-great grandfather’s 1864 circuit riding preacher Bible. It’s publishing imprint is NY 1864 🙂
I love old books, too. My oldest is a copy of Union Movement by Benjamin Franklin dated 1855, but my fave is an 1895 edition of Pilgrim’s Progress with sketches on some pages and a sketched and partially embossed cover.
A 1631 Greek New Testament. I collect GNTs and I’m always striving to balance collecting them with my lovely wife’s resistance to this filthy habit.
I have a collection,
I would call these inherited but in fact my grandfather (97 and strong) and mother are still with us. I talked my way into being the keeper of the old artifacts from the family most are now at a museum in Ohio but the novels (donated bibles and dictionaries) I keep. My great grandmother was a one room schoolteacher also. My favorite is the 1852 Uncle Toms Cabin signed by the family for generations. As an 80s child I brought it to school several times for “show and tell” and it is my fault the back of the cover is missing. I sold an equally old copy of Uncle Remus and regret it. I also have an 1852 the Life and Essays of Dr. Benjamin Franklin and a 1844 of McGuffeys rhetorical guide;or Fifth Reader or the eclectic series: containing elegant extracts in prose and poetry,with copies rules and rhetorical exercises. So I guess that is the oldest. I am adding to the collection myself buying vintage classic novels. None of mine are in perfect condition but they are signed by my family members mostly on the Morris side from Ohio which to me makes them far more valuable.