Dusting my bookshelves today, I decided to share a photo of some of the oldest books on my shelf. These are books that have survived numerous purges and were dutifully boxed and moved with us from house to house. I’ve always thought I would reread them, but haven’t done so yet, except for My Antonia. Still, something to look forward to.
What are some of the oldest books on your shelf?
A Fondness For Reading 
Timely topic! I’ve been rearranging my books, packing some up to sell at Half Price Books, fondling the ones I love with hopes of rereading someday, We sold our two large Pottery Barn bookcases to my brother & sister-in-law this weekend. Our dining room looks less homey, but it looks larger, which is important to potential buyers. I moved a large majority of those books to my upstairs “office” and now those smaller bookcases are full. I thought I might find some to discard, but they’ve been through many, many purges and they’re going with me to Oregon! Some of the oldest (if you don’t count my childhood treasures) might be A Fine Balance (Mistry), Pigs In Heaven (Kingsolver), I Know This Much is True (Lamb) and The Shell Seekers (Pilcher). I read all of these in the mid-90s.
P.S. I’ve written about some of the older books I’ve read (including Rolvaag and Cather’s pictured in your photo) in my Looking Back posts here.
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Les, I hope your house sells quickly! What an amazing process to prepare for an out of state move, and how all-consuming it is to go through one’s books and try to decide what to keep and what to part with! I’ve never read A Fine Balance or I Know This Much is True, but have just put them on my TBR list. I’ve loved everything by Kingsolver, and The Shell Seekers is one of my all time favorite books. I’m looking forward to reading your posts about Rolvaag and Cather. Thanks for the link!
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I have a bunch of books left from my young life – like childhood and early teens. And I’ve purchased more of them over the years. Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, Louisa May Alcott, Phyllis Whitney, etc. Loved seeing your oldest ‘treasures’.
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Kay, I don’t have any of my Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, Louisa May Alcott, or Cherry Ames books from my childhood. I have no idea where they went. I do have a few other childhood books that survived and are my oldest treasures.
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I have a box of books from when I was little upstairs. They are not on my shelves anymore, though. The oldest on my shelf is probably Anne of Green Gables or my Little House books. When I was in junior high I discovered A Wrinkle in Time and I still have my original copies of those books, too!
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Kelly, those are all absolute treasures! I don’t know where my childhood collections went, but I suspect some of my cousins may have been the recipients.
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My Antonia is one of the oldest books on my shelves too. 🙂 That and my old copy of Gone With the Wind are ones I got from my mom’s shelves. They’re both hardcovers that don’t have dust jackets anymore and the bindings are broken but I love them.
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Kristen, the perfect description of well-loved old book treasures! Dust covers long gone…broken bindings…second generation of being loved. Nothing better!
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