A Blast from the Past

I was sitting in the office of the new head of the library when I spied a stack of papers on her nearly empty bookshelf. When I asked what they were, she said they were a donation she was going to give to the Friends. Then we looked at it together. How old is it, I asked? Together, we looked at the title page and figured out the Roman numerals.

1723. Oh. My. Goodness. She asked if I was interested in having it. I told her that I would very much like to have it if the Friends were willing to sell for a price I could afford. A few days later, it was mine. For $5.00.

Before everyone freaks out about my doing anything to or with this book, relax. I don't know what I'm going to do with it until I find out its worth. I found a copy in the UK for $300, but that was in good condition. I am not sure who to speak with about this, but I will eventually find out. The covers from front and back are both missing and several pages have fallen out. The binding is loose and you can see from the above picture that it is coming apart.

Right now I'm loving having something so old. The paper is divine - a laid paper that you can see the embossing from printing. I love the esses that look like effs. I love the fact that so many people have touched this book through the ages, people who wore different clothes, spoke different words, knew different things than I know. I wish I could see its past...