| Re: What Is The Oldest Book You Own?
The oldest book in my collection is a two-volume set of Samuel Johnson's The Idler, printed in 1795. The oldest book I've ever handled was one from the 1670s... a book on chemistry, as I recall. My oldest sff? Hmmm. I'm not really sure on this; for one thing, I'm not sure if classics of horror fit into your criteria. If so, then probably a book by Bulwer-Lytton which includes A Strange Story, Zanoni, and "The Haunted and the Haunters" (without the final pages of the latter, which were often left out of printings of this particular tale). This one dates to somewhere in the 1880s, from the bibliographic information I've been able to find on it. (No date is given in the volume itself.) If not that, then probably the first book publication copy I have of Merritt's The Moon Pool (1919), which I picked up for a ridiculously low price some time ago.... |