AIB Dan: Old/incredible books

[Zoning Goddess]

Inspired by Dan's Burnham find (OK, maybe we can't top that one!). What's the oldest/most meaningful/most interesting book you own?

I have my grandfather's 1899 yearbook from Penn State College. It has an ad for a "cream separator" (manual, of course) and a hotel "Steam heat, good livery..." and the College Hall Tonsorial Parlor. Senior class yell: " Wha-hoo-wha! Wha-hoo-wha! State! Ninety-Nine! Rah, rah rah!"

 

[JNA]

I have a 1848
Biographical Sketches of the Signers of the
Declaration of Independence
by B.J. Lossing

From the Preface:
"It is the mission of true patriotism to scatter the seeds of knowledge broad-cast amid those in the humbler walks of society,
because adventitious circumstances deny them access to the full granary of information, where the weathy are filled;
for these humbler ones are equal inheritors of the throne of the people's sovereignty, and
are no less powerful than others at the ballot-box where the nation decides who its rulers shall be."

 

[donk]

I could list a million books but have narrowed it down to:

Most meaningful - Maus: A Survivor's Tale - Pulitzer winning graphic novel about the Holocaust and family, simply amazing, a must read.

Oldest - I'd have to check, but I am pretty sure early 1950's first edition Robert A. Heinlein or same era Philip Jose Farmer.

 

[boiker]

1877 History book

History of LaSalle County Illinois.

it went on to predict the useable coal in Illinois would last the union of 1.200 years.

It also spoke of incredible growth of my home town.

from 1860-1868 Streator grew from 200 to 7,000 people, which according to the author was a growth rate for cities within in Illinois that was uncomparable, except for that of the "great city of Chicago"

 

[Gedunker]

I have my grandfather's 1899 yearbook from Penn State College. Senior class yell: " Wha-hoo-wha! Wha-hoo-wha! State! Ninety-Nine! Rah, rah rah!"

OT: I love that yell! We need a Cyburbia Yell!

BOT: I have my grandfather's 1917 yearbook from the United States Naval Academy. The book is not arranged in alphabetical order: I'm thinking it is arranged by class rank. If that is so, then grandpa Gedunker graduated about 118th out of 120. "Judging by his course and speed, we can calculate (his) destination -- a rendezvous with the forbidden Lady Nic(otine)."

 

[otterpop]

I have the 1849 diary of a relative that chronicles his trip by ship to Panama, across the Isthmus on foot and then onward by ship to the California Gold fields.

 

[nerudite]

I have some first editions that I like because they belonged to my great grandmosther: Out of Africa (1938) and Northwest Passage (1920s?). My oldest book though is of the collected works of Longfellow, which was published sometime in the 1800s and was inscribed in the late 1800s. There are no other dates in the book, so I don't know exactly how old it is.

 

[ludes98]

I have my great grandfather's discharge papers from WW I in 1919. Two years ago I had them mounted and preserved in a display for my home. No old books in the collection.