A Precious – Mouldering – Pleasure

A couple of weeks ago or so, I saw a post on Substack that asked, “What’s the oldest book you own?” 

At the time, I was sitting on my porch with my bookshelf of Dickinson books, and I replied, “In the room where I am right now, the oldest book is Ancestors’ Brocades, the Literary Debut of Emily Dickinson by Millicent Todd Bingham, published in 1945.”  However, I acknowledged that I had older books around the house, and that I would “check later.”

We have a few shelves here and there with antique books, and the next day, I glanced through them.  The oldest book I found is from – can this be true? – 1584.  I’ll get to that one in a minute.  I'll start with this one:

​I believe the “runner up” to our oldest volume is this one (above), Memoirs of the Most Material Transactions in England, for the Last Hundred Years, Preceding the Revolution in 1688, a historical and political account written by Scottish physician James Welwood (1652-1727), first published in London in the early 1700s.  From an article in Wikipedia, “Four authorised editions appeared before 1710, and one after that date, and there were also several pirated editions.”

Welwood (1652–1727) served as physician in ordinary to King William III, and he was a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians.  His book covers a century of intense political upheaval in England including the ongoing struggle for power between the monarchy and Parliament, the English Civil Wars, religious tensions, and the defense of constitutional liberties against absolute royal rule, all leading up to the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the overthrow of the Catholic King James II of England by the Dutch Protestant leader William of Orange, who then became King William III alongside his wife, Queen Mary II – and yes, that’s the same William and Mary who granted the royal charter for a college to be founded in  Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1693, the second-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, following only Harvard University (founded in 1636).

(For you UVA fans, THE University wasn’t founded until 1819.  Wahoowa!)

Before I get to my oldest book, dear reader, I present to you a perfectly wonderful poem by Emily Dickinson about old books:

Now, without further ado (as further ado will come later in the post), here is the oldest book I found on our shelves, Orationum Marci Tullii Ciceronis, "The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero," the collected speeches of Roman statesman, lawyer, and orator. Cicero (106 BC–43 BC).

Some history surrounding this book can be found HERE. 

I found various volumes of this work for sale online – see below (click the images to enlarge) – ranging in the hundreds to the thousands, although one site (pictured on the far right) was "sold out," so iffin you're in the market for such a rare find, get your best offer to me a.s.a.p.  You don't want to walk away empty handed ruing what might have been!

And now, dear reader, if you recall, I promised further ado – and so without further ado, here is further ado:

Did Dickinson ever write about Cicero in any of her poems?  No.  However, in the poem shared above, she mentioned Plato, Sophocles, Sappho, Beatrice (Portinari), and Dante. She also mentioned Caesar in two poems ("The Child's faith is new" and "Great Caesar! Condescend") and Cato in two ("The Rainbow never tells me" and "Great Caesar! Condescend").  She also wrote poems which mention various Roman and Greek mythological Figures; for example, Midas, Jason, Prometheus, and Orpheus. 

And since the focus of this post was on old books, how about the word "book" – how often did that word make it into Dickinson's poetry?

Well, "book" shows up in fifteen different poems, and the plural "books" appears in three. I suspect that it will come as no surprise, but the most famous of Dickinson's "book" poems is surely this one:

There is no Frigate like a Book
To take us Lands away
Nor any Coursers like a Page
Of prancing Poetry –
This Traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of Toll –
How frugal is the Chariot
That bears the Human Soul –