Author Topic: What's the oldest book in your house?  (Read 4144 times)

Salvatore

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Re: What's the oldest book in your house?
« Reply #50 on: 23 April, 2012, 08:52:59 pm »
I have before me a Methodist Pocketbook (i.e. a pocket diary) for 1831, with such useful information as window tax rates, birthdays of members of the royal family, lists of the crowned heads of Europe, and hackney-coach fares, as well as uplifting texts and illustrations.

But if you stretch the definition of 'book' and 'my house', I'm part-owner of a brick with cuniform script dating from somewhere between 3000 BC and 100 AD.
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et avec John, excellent lecteur de road-book, on s'en est sortis sans erreur

snail

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Re: What's the oldest book in your house?
« Reply #51 on: 24 April, 2012, 11:51:21 am »
We've inherited a heap of unspeakably racist 19th century "how I went to Africa and shot lots of animals, tally-ho" type books from my husband's side of the family. Plus assorted stuffed animal heads.

clarion

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Re: What's the oldest book in your house?
« Reply #52 on: 24 April, 2012, 11:52:55 am »
Salvatore, i don't think anyone's going to better that one.  But we are curious about the mechanism of your ownership.

snail: Oh dear.  Especially about the stuffed heads.
Getting there...

snail

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Re: What's the oldest book in your house?
« Reply #53 on: 24 April, 2012, 12:02:23 pm »

snail: Oh dear.  Especially about the stuffed heads.

Yup. Even though we live in a 3-bed semi, they range up the stairs and loom out on the landing. We had the house on the market but unfortunately one potential buyer turned out to have a taxidermy phobia and couldn't make it up to look in the bedrooms.

I did use to have some wonderful illustrated books including HE Bate's Through the Woods with woodcuts by Agnes Miller Parker. Which I had to sell to buy food during an unfortunate time. Oh well.

Re: What's the oldest book in your house?
« Reply #54 on: 23 May, 2012, 12:47:30 pm »
Salvatore, i don't think anyone's going to better that one.  But we are curious about the mechanism of your ownership.

I can equal it, given that I'm another part-owner.

Its provenance is murky. It involves an eccentric aunt who lived in and travelled in the middle east, and who had a similar attitude - vis-à-vis ownership of foreign artefacts - as Lord Elgin.  Apparently they (she snaffled 3 cuneiform bricks altogether) were just ‘lying around’. It can only be repatriated if it is removed from the converted lowlands Scottish bothy wall into which it was built 40 years ago. In thousands of years time I like to think it will confuse the hell out of archaeologists. The other 2 bricks are now residing in the British Museum and another museum in Wolverhampton. 

Having skipped through the Spain/Gibraltar thread, I can’t help but feel I’ve said too much Clarion.