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the wayback machine
2011-Jul-29, Friday 07:29 amThe oldest book that I own is currently 159 years old. It was printed when the U.S.A. was less than a century old. The American Civil War was still a decade in the future. Napoleon Bonaparte had died only 3 decades earlier. These historical milestones are important to mention because their occasions are discussed or presaged in the book.
My book is Littell's "Living Age, Volume XXXIV" published in 1852. It is a large, 620-page collection of articles that were reproduced from various publications of the time. It includes all of the July, August, and September issues of the weekly Littell's publication. It's sort of like the Google of its age, putting a wide variety of disconnected and unvetted information at the reader's fingertips. I have a whole 3-month database to view at my whim. Envy me. ;)
It's rare that I add a new tag to my blog, but I'm adding "wayback" (in honor of the Wayback Machine) to the future posts I will write that are inspired by articles I find in this wonderful book.
Oh, for the curious, the next-oldest books that I own are a mere century old. They are my grandfather's schoolbooks on the topics of grammar (1903), arithmetic (1912), agriculture (1914), and human physiology (1915). Next, I think, comes the Latin-English dictionary (1927?), 27th edition, that I bought from my own high school's library sale. After that, I have my mother's schoolbooks with the tales of Oregon Chief (1927), Robinson Crusoe (no date), and Tom Sawyer (1955). Apparently my family line has a history of hoarding the books they've owned. I'm a worse offender than most of them. *laugh*
My book is Littell's "Living Age, Volume XXXIV" published in 1852. It is a large, 620-page collection of articles that were reproduced from various publications of the time. It includes all of the July, August, and September issues of the weekly Littell's publication. It's sort of like the Google of its age, putting a wide variety of disconnected and unvetted information at the reader's fingertips. I have a whole 3-month database to view at my whim. Envy me. ;)
It's rare that I add a new tag to my blog, but I'm adding "wayback" (in honor of the Wayback Machine) to the future posts I will write that are inspired by articles I find in this wonderful book.
Oh, for the curious, the next-oldest books that I own are a mere century old. They are my grandfather's schoolbooks on the topics of grammar (1903), arithmetic (1912), agriculture (1914), and human physiology (1915). Next, I think, comes the Latin-English dictionary (1927?), 27th edition, that I bought from my own high school's library sale. After that, I have my mother's schoolbooks with the tales of Oregon Chief (1927), Robinson Crusoe (no date), and Tom Sawyer (1955). Apparently my family line has a history of hoarding the books they've owned. I'm a worse offender than most of them. *laugh*
