r/OldBooks

Hello everyone - this community is in need of a few new mods, and you can use the comments on this post to let us know why you’d like to be a mod here. 

Priority is given to redditors who have past activity in this community or other communities with related topics. It’s okay if you don’t have previous mod experience and our goal, when possible, is to add a group of moderators so you can work together to build the community.

Please use at least 3 sentences to explain why you’d like to be a mod and share what moderation experience you have (if any).  

If you are interested in learning more about being a moderator on Reddit, please visit redditforcommunity.com. This guide to joining a mod team is a helpful resource. 

Comments from those making repeated asks to adopt communities or that are off topic will be removed. 

Looks like some kind of program for a community gathering, with music, politics, reading, and a biography of Longfellow. Any botanists here who recognize the leaves?

This one’s my oldest, so far. It’s a really interesting and detailed chronological history of England spanning from around 1100bc until 1600ad. I can only imagine all the people who have flipped through these pages over the last 426 years .

Hello,

Here is the second illustrated Bible from 1487, following the one from 1483, printed by Anton Koberger.

I only own the third volume out of the four, but it seems to me to be the most interesting one since it contains the 15 illustrations related to Ezekiel.

You can see the ideal Temple that Ezekiel describes in his book, as well as the Merkabah: the throne, the divine chariot, and the tetrahedral star, a very important figure in Kabbalah.

Curiously, the Books of Maccabees were not bound at the end of volume 3.

The Lord of the rings, and the tales of mystery and imagination (this one was rough when I got it) were passed down from my folks.

I bought this a couple of weeks ago and it has now been repaired and restored. Unfortunately, it is missing part of the index but it remains original and not rebound.

I found some old books on the side of the road that had a sign that said free, im curious what i found. It could possibly be a new hobby i start collecting. But this one in particular sparks my interest if anybody could give me some info on it I would be interested. Value is not the most important thing here and ill make a separate post in the designated area for that. Thanks everybody!

I got this book for a dollar at a local estate sale. It was the last day, and they just wanted stuff gone. I found it intriguing before I knew that someone in this family was related to Shirley Temple. The estate sale lady told me that. Just wanted to share it somewhere it might be appreciated 🧡

The oldest book in mine is a discarded library rebind of The Life of George Washington second revised edition by John Marshall. I believe it is from 1848 or around there.

Hello all! I inherited 25 pieces of a Charles Dickens book set from my great grandmother when she passed away.

I wanted to share with people who may appreciate them. There's a lot of notes from the library relevant to Dickens pasted in the book and a lot of beautiful illustrations.

I don't appreciate them fully and would love opinions on where they should go.

I grabbed it because it seemed like an interesting book. I didn't notice the name and the pressed leaves until I got home. I think the leaves are a more recent addition. Still pretty cool though.

My vintage book collection contains only a couple of books, with my single favorite being my Websters Dictionary from 1950, and my favorite altogether books being my Harvard Collection.

I found this in very good condition when I went to my local bookstore and thought it was very unique. I looked through them and thought nothing about them, but I did know that I would like to have a nice decoration to my room that would look nice a sophisticated. I asked the lady how much all the books where and she said that all of them would be sold separately, but they had not been liquidated at all. This actually got me kind of worried that all the books would get separated, so I told the lady that I was interested and would like to see how much all the books costed together.

When I said this, the lady looked at me weirdly, but she agreed and had me wait around until all the books where liquidated. While that was happening, I joked around with my friends as we started guessing how much all the books would cost. One said $500, another said $300 while I said $150. However, in the spirit of the mood I said, "if they all cost less or a little beyond than $15, then I will get them". In that moment I heard the lady call me up the register.

I went up to the register and asked for her conclusion on the cost of all the books. She replied in a very slow voice, "they all cost $20 concisely together". I was shocked and immediately put down a 20(with tax) and brought them home to count to see if my treasures were worth the $20 I paid for them.

When I got home, I put them all on my bed and counted. All the books together totaled in 50, and after doing some research, I had a complete set! I was in shock and awe of my find, and I was so happy to have it. I shared it with accouple of other friends that did not go with me to the bookstore and they seemed honestly impressed. Some even asked if I would sell it to make some money, but I simply said no to them as the knowledge inside each book is more precious than diamonds.

Other than the story, some info on the collection is that it seems to come from 19-9-1910 and could have been something they would have given the teachers or students as study books. For the condition, they are excellent with no torn pages, no broken spines, and only some miner scratches on the surface (mostly just from being dragged in and out from the shelf). Other than that, what do you think, have any of y'all found something close to this? If so, I would love to see some images to know if anyone has any books like these!

Purchased pretty much by chance on Saturday, I cleaned and consolidated the leather that evening, then fed and waxed yesterday. I may have to pinch in the corners but it has formed a good shape simply being wrapped in craft paper. A lovely clean example, somewhat modern by the standard of many posts here but an antique nonetheless.

A gorgeous duo of books I bought in Oxford yesterday. I loved the illustrations and that they have the Dodo in!

Video of some of the pages

This Quran has exchanged hands in my family through generations, the earliest holder of the book shows that it is close to 500 years old!

I am now the youngest member of my family to ever guard this valuable books, and i will pass it down to my son one day to safe guard this valuable piece for the future generations to come.