What's the oldest book you own?

One day, my mom randomly decided that she would make me clean out the attic. I went up there, but I let her know I wasn't happy. There was dust everywhere, I could hear the little mice in the walls, and there was a dead, rotting bat on the floor probably left behind by the cats. I did my best to ignore it and worked as fast as I could.

In a corner, I found a couple of boxes marked BOOKS. I immediately got excited and sat down on the floor to see what treasures I could find. Inside the boxes I found a couple of books that were obviously quite old. My mom let me keep them as payment for cleaning the attic.

I am the proud owner of a 1896 copy of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. The second book I found was a 1913 copy of Little Men by Louisa May Alcott.

I have two 18th century books and quite a lot of 19th century ones, but my favourite old book is my grandfather's 1897 copy of Extinct Monsters, which he used to let me read as a child.

The earliest I have is "Oeuvres" (Works) by Nicolas Boileau - a 17th century French author - printed 1786.

My oldest is a French translation of the Iliad from 1714: http://www.librarything.com/work/5057/book/523553

Next oldest is the first Italian edition of a work by Pierre Nicole, Riflessioni del signor Nicole sopra i principali punti della religione e de' costumi, published in 1769.

Dr. Chase's recipes;: Or, information for everybody: an invaluable collection of about eight hundred practical recipes by A. W Chase (1866)

A veritable goldmine of old recipes, medical advice (shudder), and oddments.

The three oldest books I could find were a Dutch translation of Dante's Divina Commedia from 1955 which I bought at a library book sale for 50 cents, a Dutch translation of the Iliad from 1959 which I found at my grandfather and he said I could keep it and a fairy tale book from 1969 which I found in our garage when I was little and which belonged to my dad when he was little

The oldest book I have in my collection is a 1826 volume of the Psalms of David with the translation of Isaac Watts (he had made hymns out of the psalms a century earlier).

In the States at the moment? late 19th century/early 20th (one of the Elizabeth's book - will check exact date when I am home).

Back home - one of my Shakespeare volumes is from late 18th century and a few more are from early and mid 19th.

Mine is an 1841 set of Lyell's Elements of Geology, but my husband has an 1818 book on Iceland.

Gilgamesh? Ooops, sorry, it's copyright 2004. It's cellulose, not papyrus.

Lots of battered Victorian editions of popular novelists, the oldest being from the late 1860s. There should be a pocket dictionary from the 1840s as well, but it's gone walkabout (probably got pushed behind something else).

The interesting narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano 1794 but I have an ebook version. Growing World or, Progress of Civilization, and the Wonders of Nature, Science, Literature and Art . . .illustrated from 1880 is the oldest physical book I have. The Pursuit Of The Houseboat, 1897 is the oldest fiction I have.

I have some old books packed up in boxes from my parents' apartment, so they are inaccessible at the moment, but the oldest one I've entered into LT so far is The Form of Daily Prayers: According to the Custom of German and Polish Jews, published in Vienna in 1857. It must have been something my grandfather's family brought over from Europe when they came here in the 1890s.

Hmm, the touchstone came up in the box to the side but isn't showing up in the post.

Historiæ augustæ scriptorum minorum latinorum - pars secunda by Gaius Suetonius, printed 1632 in Leiden.

ETA: I give up on the f****** touchstones.

I have two books printed in 1889:
Cleopatra by Haggard and De Nieuwe kerk van Amsterdam by the Dutch poet and novelist J.J.L. ten Kate.

But I'm very proud of my 1896 copy of Over de liefhebberij voor boeken, voornamelijk met het oog op het boek voor onze dagen (On the love of books, especially with focus on the book before our days) and also the 1903 edition of Thomas Frognall Dibdin's The bibliomania, or book-madness in 4 volumes, published by the Bibliophile Society in Boston in only 483 copies. I picked the last one up at an auction recently, and it was very affordable. It made me happy!

I have a Victorian edition of Cowper's Poetical Works with a preface dated 1853, which must be from that date or not long after. It embodies the Terry Pratchett quote:

"the sort of book described in library catalogues as "slightly foxed", although it would be more honest to admit that it looked as though it had been badgered, wolved and possibly beared as well".

A Bible presented to my great-great-grandmother in 1875 - "as a reward for good conduct during three years which she lived as domestic servant in {employer's} family." She was 14 at the time, so must have gone into service there at 11. Also two volumes of essays from 1902, and a 1910 Pilgrim's Progress, which I think have also all come down in the family.

Wow! Some of these books sound amazing. Someday I would love to have a collection of antique books.

The oldest book I own is my father's high school geometry book. It's not as old as some of these others, 1945, but I'll bet I love it more. It contains lots of his doodles when he should have been listening to the teacher. :-)

I have an anthology of poems called A Casquet of Gems dated 1869. Its interesting to see what the Victorians at that date thought would stand the test of time - some hits, some misses.

the coming conquest of england, 19-oh-something. That, or a gift from my grandfather, an unreturned Don Quixote from a Boston university library.

However, if we're to talk about the book that I've had with me the longest, a much read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and The Boy Chemist, another birthday gift from my grandparents that I've yet to read.

I have a copy of The Schoolmasters Assistant by Thomas Dilworth. Printed and sold by Joseph Crukshank in Market Street, between Second and Third streets in Philadlphia - dated MDCCLXXXIV (1784). It belonged to my mother-in-law and I believe it was passed down through her family, but not sure.

I believe I am going to break some records here:

Leonardus de Utino: Sermones de sanctis; Venice, Franciscus Renner de Haibrum et Nicolaus de Franckfordia, 1473, 1. Ed.
Aureola ex floribus S. Hieronymi contexta, published by Speyer, printer of the "Gesta Christi", ca 1472.

Unfortunately, they are going to leave my house, with some others from XVIe C.
I definitively prefer to be allowed to handle and read the books, instead of watching them through a window and making an annual control with white gloves.
So Arion, Bowler, and other Barbarian presses; be warned, I am coming!

My oldest book is Prehistoric Britain by Christopher and Jacquetta Hawkes. published in 1943.

My favorite Old book though is the The Cowles Comprehensive Encyclopedia. It is from 1962 and weighs like 15 lbs. They just don't make books like that anymore.