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 Steve, this is a wonderful story. I have some nice old copies of home medical guides, but my oldest is a New Testament passed down through my family, dated 1844.
The oldest book I own is an 1841 copy of the Book of Martyrs, so fragile the front cover isn’t attached any more. But my favorite old book is my Grandfather’s 1947 Bible. It is almost as worn and fragile as my Book of Martyrs from all his use.
Very cool. I do not have any old books, but have been looking for an original dictionary. Noah Websters was said to have scripture throughout the original dictionaries.
Webster’s Encyclopaedia of Useful Information by Professor D. L. Webster dated 1897. Unfortunately, some of the pages are missing, but it’s probably 95% intact at 3″ thick. Both covers are missing and it ends at page 566. Fun resource for writing… and just for the info!
My heart beats faster at the very idea of a job where one sits in the back room of a library, repairing rare books.
I wish I had an old family Bible, but I lack that legacy of faith. My oldest books are a much more worldly 1925 “Stars of the Photoplay” (useful for researching my WIP set in old Hollywood) and a 1938 copy of Gone With the Wind.
Old books are hand-held history. Love them!
When we were stationed in England (2005-2009)I made it a habit to frequent used bookstores. I’d purchase any book I found dated earlier than the 1900s and under ten pounds. They weren’t that hard to find over there. My oldest is a 1792 Oxford Bible. I bought it for a few pounds in a flea market. It was first owned by Charles Perry, then a list of subsequent Perrys. On of them did his math homework in the back. 🙂
I’m the first Gardner to own this Bible, but I can assure you I won’t be the last. I’ll be passing it along to my kids.
A tip one of the antiquarian dealers told me was to gently rub a good quality leather balm into the cover “every now and then.” When I asked how often that was, he said every ten years or so. lol In England, “old book” means something totally different. He didn’t consider my 1792 Bible old. haha! 🙂
Loved your history timeline. Really puts things into perspective.
Wow, that’s incredible. I can’t imagine owning a book that had been passed down from the 18th century. When I was researching my first practice novel, I ordered a couple of books written during African colonialism – one written by a missionary to Malawi (then Nyasaland) in 1906, the other written by a steamship trader who had taken it upon himself to fight the last vestiges of the east African slave trade in the 1890’s. I assumed they were reprints since I only paid around $20 for them. What a surprise when I received original copies.
I know I have a late 1700s copy of Josephus’s “Antiquities of the Jews” around here somewhere. Can’t seem to find it. My runner-up is “Select Practical Writings of John Knox,” printed in Edinburgh in 1845 and owned first by Elisa Hutcheon, who practiced signing her name in pencil on the flyleaf and then wrote it in pen below.
Love that 1773 signature. The oldest book we own is my husband’s family Bible. It has a date of 1844.
My oldest book is the now politically incorrect story of Little Black Sambo. My grandmother gave it to my father for Christmas in 1930. It was a favorite of his and then mine. The book was so well read it came apart.
My grandmother began teaching at a one room schoolhouse when she was fifteen. I have copies of books she owned, signed and dated as early as 1906–Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Gene Stratton Porter’s Laddie and others, The House of Seven Gables, etc. Some of these are bound in a velvet-like leather and the print is about 8 point. They are approximately 4 x 5 inches. Real treasures to me, knowing they were hers and they are more than 100 years old.
My oldest is an 1880 illustrated collection of Charles Dickens. It’s marvelous! THen I have an 1881 special printing of Longfellow’s The Village Blacksmith. It’s hand sewn and so cool!
I have a prayer book dated 1884. I can’t remember where I got it, but I think it belonged to the owner of the steamer trunk I have in my crawl space. She was a very woman who ran away from home, found a steamship who’d take her and snuck out of Canada in 1918 to go to Africa to be missionary. DURING WW1!
I have a set of Rees’s Cyclopedia (minus one volume but still around 30 books) published in 1819. I’m not sure they’re my oldest books, but I treasure them. Some of them aren’t in great shape but they are a wonderful resource for writing books set in the Regency period. I bought them years ago over the phone from a bookstore in Oregon after a friend on a writer’s loop mentioned seeing them. 🙂
I think the oldest book I own is my father’s French/English dictionary published in 1927. (Sorry, but I don’t have time to search all my old books for publication dates.)
But I’m one-up on you about something. I, too, mended library books as a student and became so good at doing it that they had me mend a Gutenberg Bible! Once I told an antique book seller about that and he asked, “May I touch the hand that touched something Gutenberg touched?” Of course I let him.
Janet, that’s such a heartwarming story! So glad you had that opportunity and were rewarded with such a prized possession. 🙂
Thank you, Rachel. Of course I didn’t get to keep the Bible, but I’ll always keep the memory.
Love the photo of your book–especially the inscription with that beautiful script handwriting (which is such a lost art).
The oldest book in our library is a 1909 print of a Bobbsey Twins book. It was my grandmother’s when she was a young girl, but since it was printed about 7 or 8 years before her birth I believe it may have belonged to another family member. The cover is literally hanging by four threads and is incredibly faded, but it’s such a prized family treasure we don’t care what condition it’s in. My grandmother loved the Bobbsey Twins and read until the night before she died. (I believe she’s the reason I love to read and write so much)
Thanks for sharing this beautiful post as it brings back some special memories. God Bless!
I have several leather-bound books that came from my grandmother, dated late 1800s and early 1900s. The most unique I have is an illustrated Finnish Bible printed in the US in 1890 that belonged to my biological mother’s grandparents. It’s at least three inches thick with a big metal clasp on the side. My favorite exhibit at The Creation Museum is the little room filled with old Bibles and other important Christian books like Pilgrim’s Progress. It gives me goosebumps to stand so close to such incredible bits of history.
I love old books. I have some of my books cataloged. I really need to update it because only about 1/10th of my books are on there. 🙂
One of my older books is a 1907 hymnal that belonged to my husband’s great-great aunt.
“Molly the Drummer Boy” by Horatio Alger, 1900. I have two other Alger books, but there are no copyright dates in them. Have another one “Sunshine and Smiles” by Uncle Buddy Robinson published in 1903.
Fun topic! Somewhere on my shelves I have a book from 1848 on logic. I picked it up at a flea market where all books that the dealer had acquired from a English professors library were a $1. I picked up some first editions for a dollar with their receipts (for much more) still inside. I only took books I thought I’d read, though.
I also picked up an entire 1890’s library of World’s Best Literature for free outside a used bookstore in their free bin.
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.