whats the oldest antique book you own /lit/?
Just found a book that was printed in 1802
I own these old as fuck collected works of Goethe and Kierkegaard. Neither contains any of their greater works tho.
I actually have no idea when these are from, as it is not stated anywhere in them.
i dunno, shit shape is damn old. but good shape i got one from the 1860's i think
it's great because it's got a signature saying "to whoever it is, from whatever it was, on Christmas Eve 1868".
>>7893542
I could have bought an old Kirkegaard book like that but it had that dumbass print so i couldn't read it so i said fuck it. i already used almost all my money on other books
>>7893600
>Not being able to read blackletter
>>7893542
nice
>>7893542
Damn that old Kierkegaard is sexy as fuck. Tell me, how difficult is his use of language? I've got some basic Danish under my belt and I'm currently learning, but I know philosophy can be very difficult to read in a second language. Is he particularly difficult?
I've got a Book of Common Prayer that was printed just before the turn of the 19th century. Shame i'm not religious but it's still a really cool antique. Other than that i've got a Coleridge collection from 1860ish and an oddball Theological Dictionary from around the same time.
I have a copy of Ibsen's plays that's so tattered it looks like it was printed by the original printing press.
I have some pages from a 18th century Quran, it was handwritten.
>>7893504
I have two Ibsen plays from the Austro-Hungarian era.
Cs.és Kir. Means Royal and Imperial.
Family Bible from 1695
>>7896198
Post pics
>>7894309
If you have a general good understanding of the language, then Enten- Eller shouldn't be that hard a read
>>7893504
Cicero, De Officiis (On Duties / Obligations), 1783.
>>7896743
This is really really neat.
Where did you get it?
>>7896743
As you can see, front board missing; otherwise solid and in pretty good shape, considering.
>>7896746
General and academic bookseller in Durban, ZA, in the 1990s. They had some shelves of used books on their staircases, and this was in amongst those.
>>7896743
that is a fucking smexy antique book, keep good care of it.
To me holding a book that old makes think about historical context more than really any other type of antique. I mean someone who witnessed the birth of America probably held and read that book.
> tfw the oldest book edition I own is a Penguin Classic edition from the 1980s
How do you guys come across antique books? Do you get lucky at yard sales? Do you inherit them?
>>7896769
For christs sake it's not hard to find a book from the 20s at local thrift shops.
Probably the most valuable books I own are the entire collection of Wizard of Oz books in first edition and it decent condition with their original covers. Inherited from my old as shit family.
As far as that guys 1783 Cicero, that is pretty fucking rare unless you live in europe or the eastern united states.
Or if you go to an antique bookstore.
>>7896777
It's hard to come across them when you live in the middle of buttfuck rural England with no shops for miles.
>>7896769
In my case, some inherited (mostly 19th century; 1850s and on), some from ordinary used booksellers (mostly the same period). Unless things are really old (probably pre-1700); or really rare and interesting, and in excellent condition, they need not be that expensive. There are, of course, specialist antiquarian sellers that deal in these things, and even some of their items might not be all that pricy, but as perceived attractiveness goes up, so does price, and the likelihood of dodgy dealing.
>>7896788
Rural England still probably has many hidden old books in peoples attics. I could be wrong though.
But even then, some of the paperbacks I order on ebay are at least as early as the 70s on a common basis.
>>7896800
>Rural England still probably has many hidden old books in peoples attics.
Pretty much. And the grander the house, the more likely it's something really special: they've just found a First Folio on the (Scottish) Isle of Bute.
German translation of livy from 1884
>>7893504
Ive got:
first edition of Ship's Memoirs from 1829
The Tutor's Assistant; Compendium of Arithmetic 1802
World's 100 Best Short Stories, 8 books from 1927
Anyone know if these are worth anything?
The one from 1802 is in pretty bad shape. Got a few others too