Show Us Your Oldest Books

Among the oldest books I own is "The Border Outlaws" by J.W. Buell. Written by Buell in 1880 & printed just once in 1881, this book predates the death of Jesse James on April 3rd, 1882.

Hurricane Jack said:

Among the oldest books I own is "The Border Outlaws" by J.W. Buell. Written by Buell in 1880 & printed just once in 1881, this book predates the death of Jesse James on April 3rd, 1882.

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Oooooohhhhhhhhh, that be a good one!
M
Ps reminds me of one I have on the Banditti of the prairie and one on famous pirates and highwaymen.

M Hatman said:

Ps reminds me of one I have on the Banditti of the prairie and one on famous pirates and highwaymen.

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I've looked for yrs for the book written by James Robert "Windy Jim" Cummins in 1902-1903 about the James-Younger gang. Cummins was a friend of the James Bros since childhood, rode under Quantrill & later JO Shelby. He was a gang member & wrote in great detail about the robberies & gunfights but always claimed he was not present, only repeating what other gang members had told him. Windy Jim died in the Missouri Confederate home in 1929.

Along with my grandfather's leaded glass bookcase, I've inherited many of the books he won as school prizes in the 1890s-1900s. Included in this is the 1901 Boys' Own Paper Annual and an edition of Herbert Hayen's novel about the Hungarian Civil War in 1848, The Red White and Green.

These are my two oldest books.

At the Sign of the Jack O'Lantern by Myrtle Reed, 1902. I love the writing on the page for this one. Vera wrote, "A book for some chuckles when reading." Indeed, there are some pretty funny moments in this book.





Greyfriar's Bobby by Eleanor Atkinson, 1912. This one also has someone's writing- their address, dated 1915. I rather love that. I do not, however, appreciate whoever taped articles to the inside of this book. The one on the left is just a very short version of the story in this book, an article on the back mentions 1948 fashion or I'd have no idea when it's from. On the right, a requested reprint of 'Eulogy on the Dog' from 1870. I'm tempted to remove the article on the left, just with a blade to cut the tape but leave what's stuck where it's at. But the one on the right is pasted flat.
Someone gave me this book as a gift about 25 years ago, since they knew I love the Disney film of the same name.

Bushman said:

Besides a stack of musty, falling apart bibles that belonged to my Great Grandmother that SHE brought over from Poland, my oldest novel is an original first edition of Ernest Hemingway's "Old Man and the Sea", which was gifted to it's previous owner before he went on safari in Africa.

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An addendum to this post, but here's the inscription on the inside page dated 1953...


However, since making this post, I have a new oldest. A copy of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" from 1920, making it nearly a century old and easily the oldest book in my collection by decades!

I recently picked up an edition of "Joe Miller's Jests," the fountainhead of all English-language joke books, dating to about 1840.



This supplants an 1850s collection of the poetry of Robert Burns -- och, aye -- as the oldest book on my shelves. Photo isn't my exact copy, but it's the same edition -- pocket-sized, leather-bound hard covers, and full of jokes about merchants, prelates, and members of Parliament whose identities could easily be swapped with personalities of today. Most of the comedy is exceedingly dry, but some of it still works. This is an expanded edition of the eighteenth-century original, and most of the contents have nothing to do with Joe Miller, who is best explained as the Milton Berle of his generation.

Assuming I "translated" the Roman Numerals correctly, this collection is from 1843. My girlfriend's father gave it to me several years back. It's in incredible condition except that it's still very fragile/dry from age.

This is the oldest I have on hand:

Raiders of the Deep (WWI German U Boats)

I have a few old titles. Here are two. Cyrano De Bergerac from 1898 and English for Coming Citizens from 1918