Play Book Tag discussion

Name the book that you've read with the oldest original publication date.

Do you like to read books published before the year you were born? Do you own any old books? Do you have or collect first editions?

What decade, prior to your birth, has the most books published that you have read?

Last year, Jason, I read The Longest Day. It was a hard book to get a hold of, but I finally found a copy through my library's inter-library system. The copy I got was a first issue-
here's what I said about it https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


I think an older book has history, not just in the story, but holding a book like that in your hands can be powerful. At least it was for me

Oldest book I've read is Art of War from about 500 BCE.

I dont keep physical books anymore.

I have toyed with the idea of starting to find and collect old books.

I was born in 1988. The most books I've read in a decade prior to 88 is the 1960s. The 50s, 70s and 80s (before 1988) I've read a bit from the 30s and quite bit from the 19th century as a whole.

I want to increase my reading from before 17th century.

The oldest books listed in MyBooks are The Illiad (-750) and The Odyssey (-700). I only reads portions of modern versions (abridged?)

The oldest books that I completed are:
The Prince, by Machiavelli 1532
Romeo and Juliet 1595

By century:

1500 -1699- 2- Machiavelli's The Prince, Romeo and Juliet (plus other Shakespeare plays read in high school).

1700s - 2 - Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver's travels. I also had Tom Jones, but I know if couldn't have been the full version.

1800s -30-35. (Some are iffy, or partial reads) A mix of adult and children's books. I read (or reread) 10 in the last 5 years. I reread Count of Monte Christo (1276 pages) recently, but I think I preferred the 500+ page version I read decades ago. I think that is the version that was most widely available.

I do like to read classic books, though I haven't read many (any?) since becoming active with PBT. I read many when I was reading the PBS Great American Read list a couple years ago.

I don't collect first editions. I have quite a few academic books signed by the authors, but I don't think they'll be collectible.

Decades next..

Joanne,

I agree. I have a bible from somewhere between 1850-1880. Its powerful holding it.

One of my life goals is to visit the museum "The Bible and The Divine Name" at Jehovah's Witnesses Headquarters in Warwick New York. It's a free museum and it's full of old bible translations and it focuses on the tetragrammaton YHWH translated Yahweh or Jehovah. It focuses on the history of translations, languages, and bibles.

Here is a video about the museum.
https://www.jw.org/finder?srcid=share...

NancylJ wrote: "The oldest books listed in MyBooks are The Illiad (-750) and The Odyssey (-700). I only reads portions of modern versions (abridged?)

The oldest books that I completed are:
The Prince, by Machiave..."

My goal is to read the Illiad and the Odyssey. I was supposed to read the Odyssey in High School but I didn't.

Joanne wrote: "Last year, Jason, I read The Longest Day. It was a hard book to get a hold of, but I finally found a copy through my library's inter-library system. The copy I got was a first issue-
..."

This was also 5 stars for me and I have recommended it plenty of times (though I don't know how many people have taken me up on that recommentdation!).

I didn't keep good records of my reading until I joined goodreads, so I'm missing a lot. I'm leaving off books that I'm not really sure I read (e.g. I don't know which Edith Wharton or Nancy Drew books I read).

1900-1909 - 3+
1910-1919 - 7+
1920-1929 - 8+
1930-1930 - 17++
1940-1949 - 30+
1950- 1959 -25 + more children's books
1960-1969 - 29 + 20+ children's books

I was born in 1958. I probably read more books in the 1940s than any other decade before I was born.

Books I've read by Century

BCE
5th - 1

CE
1st- 1
2nd- 1
3rd - 1
4th - 1
5th - 1
6th -1
8th - 1
9th - 1
10th - 1
12th - 2
13th - 1
14th - 1
15th - 1
16th - 2
17th - 3
18th -2
19th - 24

I often not a fan of classics. They are hit or miss for me, so I definitely don't make a point of reading them or collecting them.

Based on my Library Thing shelf (it's easier to organize, I find) - and this is not including things I read in school, like Shakespeare or Illiad or Odyssey (can't even recall if we read the entirety of those in my university Classics class or not... there were others (Ovid Metamorphosis), but again, I don't recall if we only read parts or the whole thing, and I'm not including stuff for school), my oldest would be:

The Castle of Otranto / Horace Walpole.

If it's accurate, it tells me 1834.

ETA: Aw, shoot. This is probably organized by date of the editions I read. (Except, apparently, The Castle of Otranto! I'm certain I did not read an 1834 edition!) I have no idea, then. I don't know how to find out.

LibraryCin wrote: "I often not a fan of classics. They are hit or miss for me, so I definitely don't make a point of reading them or collecting them.

Based on my Library Thing shelf (it's easier to organize, I find..."

Per Wikipedia:
The Castle of Otranto is a book by Horace Walpole first published in 1764 and generally regarded as the first gothic novel.

I do have a copy of Gulliver's Travels, leather bound, with illustrations from 1906. When I find a jewel like this, I do keep them.

Joanne wrote: "I do have a copy of Gulliver's Travels, leather bound, with illustrations from 1906. When I find a jewel like this, I do keep them."

I hope you join in tonite on zoom so you can show us!

LibraryCin wrote: "I often not a fan of classics. They are hit or miss for me, so I definitely don't make a point of reading them or collecting them.

Based on my Library Thing shelf (it's easier to organize, I find..."

On good reads, when you go to My Books, click on settings (to the right of your search box) Check the box for date pub. Close that box. Click on Date Pub. This will organize your books publication date newest to oldest. Click again and it will organize oldest to newest.

Jason wrote: "On good reads, when you go to My Books, click on settings (to the right of your search box) Check the box for date pub. Close that box. Click on Date Pub. This will organize your books publication date newest to oldest. Click again and it will organize oldest to newest. ..."

Thank you. I just went and figured it out before I saw your instructions! :-)

This does appear to be original publication date, so "The Castle of Otranto" remains the oldest for me, after cutting out Shakespeare. It is my only book from before 1800.

Post-1800, I have Jane Austen (most of hers, I think), Swiss Family Robinson, Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. That takes me up to 1820.

Jason wrote: "Joanne wrote: "I do have a copy of Gulliver's Travels, leather bound, with illustrations from 1906. When I find a jewel like this, I do keep them."

I hope you join in tonite on zoom so you can sho..."

Cannot make it tonight, but hopefully next week

When I sorted my books by pub date, I ended up with 9 pages of books with "unknown" pub. dates between The Odyssey and The Prince.

The Gulliver's Travels book sounds wonderful. I can picture some of the illustrations in my head. I wonder what happened to the book I had as a child.

Though we took up The Iliad and The Odyssey in high school, we never read the whole book. And I only read a modern version of Gilgamesh. I can't remember if I finished Beowulf.

So I guess my oldest that I know I completed are:

The Prince by Machiavelli, 1532
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, 1595 (I read this on my own)
The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi, 1645

I love historical fiction, but i love it written in my lifetime, especially in the now. You'd think I'd be more classical. Its a rare classic I love. Shakespeare maybe? Jane Austen? F Scott Fitzgerald.

I read all of The Odyssey in high school, I remember the whole thing, so it's the oldest I've read. Since I've joined goodreads Beowulf is the oldest book I've read. I've read a lot of books published before I was born. For awhile I was reading the 1001 books list starting with the oldest books. I haven't read one in awhile, When the poll tally game ends I'm thinking of getting back into it.

According to GR, the earliest dated book I have read is:
The Iliad by Homer.

I enjoy reading older books, either before or after I was born. One of my goals this year is to catch up on books with older publication dates (inspired by our Bingo challenge).

I do not collect or keep old books but I enjoy them and pass them along for another reader to enjoy.

I never thought to check my GR's shelf. It appears I like older books, as I have 2 pages that start at 1900 and run through the early 80's.

If you are interested here is the link to my page https://www.goodreads.com/review/list.... just too many to list here.

ETA-you will need to sort by publication date, because for some reason the sorted pages do not come up automatically

I have an old list of the 1001 books to read before you die. I'm not systematically going through it or anything (don't enjoy classics enough to make a point of it), but I wanted to just keep track and see how many I've read.

Anyway, going by it, the oldest I think I've read, The Castle of Otranto is cofirmed.

Joining this conversation late...but been quite busy. So, I have read a lot across the centuries. School English syllabi tend to be classic -- my first Shakespeare was at 12y/o - A Midsummer Night's Dream and still a favorite. The next year was Julius Ceasar which I did not like so much. As a teenager, on my own I read Thomas Hardy, Charles Dickens, Faulkner, etc. Then I got a liberal arts education at an Ivy League college which to this day has humanities and literature requirements that has you starting with the Greeks and working forward. Plus was essentially a French literature major. One last geeky tidbit: while in college, I joined with a bunch of Latin and Greek Classics majors and formed a Greek Drama Group that put on the ancient greek plays in ancient greek...nerdy enough for you???? That group is still functioning at my alma mater - more than 45 years after being founded.

Oldest: has to be The Hesiod - 700 BC. Then the Ancient Greek Plays -- Euripedes, Aristophanes, Sophocles - all written in the early 400s BC. Other 'older' reads - Virgil's Aeneid, Odyssey, Iliad, Aneied, Beowulf, La Chanson de Roland, Canterbury Tales, Bocaccio's Decameron, Morte D'Artur, Milton's Paradise Lost, Dante, Machiavelli, Rabelais, Moliere, Dumas .... hmmm, I'm even amazed!

And I've worked up through the centuries. Now I've only been on GR for about 3 years, meaning most of my books owned or read are not there. But from what I have added, the oldest is Aesop's Fables from 560 BC.

I do occasionally buy a rare book first edition -- usually something I've stumbled across in a used bookshop or book sale that appeals to me for some reason. There is a very definite aura to many of those books. And I have a real 'thing' for Vintage Map Back Paperbacks - for those unfamiliar with these, here is a link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mapback. Because these were published as cheap paperbacks, they are incredibly fragile at this point and are generally sold in an acid-free plastic bag coverings and reading them is nearly impossible - although I have.

I was born in 1955 -- and I have absolutely no idea what decade prior to my birth has the most books I've read. No idea whatever. At a guess, I'd suspect the 1920s/30s/40s would be it due to my fondness for mysteries from the Golden Age authors like Agatha Christie, and love of suspense and romance by Georgette Heyer, Mary Stewart, Helen MacInnes, and Phyllis Whitney.

Yes, I read romance and classics! Remember, many classics were the potboilers and bestsellers of their time.

I missed a question. What decade, prior to your birth....? I was born in the 70s, so I'm not surprised to see the 1960s as my highest night.

Of the 30s, 50s, and 60s (I didn't have as many in the 40s), the 60s has the widest range of authors. Looking at my books read published in the 30s and 50s, there seem to be more repeated authors.

The 30s (25 books) included Laura Ingalls Wilder, Agatha Christie, John Steinbeck, L.M. Montgomery.

The 50s (36 books) included Jean Plaidy, Daphne du Maurier, Richard Matheson, Farley Mowat, Neville Shute, Patricia Highsmith.

The 60s (49 books): multiples by Jean Plaidy, Farley Mowat, John Fowles, then one book by different authors.

I studied a lot of literature, so I read The Odyssey, The Iliad, the ancient Greek plays, some Plato and Aristotle, and in French lit (my major) some really old stuff like Chanson de Roland and other knightly stories. I never did read Chaucer though. From the 1600's on, I've read quite a lot. I have been in several classics groups. I especially like 19th century English and French novels.

I have a copy of Little Women that I think is from the original time but it is in 2 volumes and they are bound wrong, that is Volume 1 cover says Volume 2 and vice versa. I don't know if that means they were rebound or if it is some rarity. It belonged to my grandfather. My father-in-law also collected some very old books but they were donated to museums either before or after his death. I'm not really interested in owning old books, I am a slob, often spilling on or bending pages by accident, so I wouldn't want the responsibility.

I have too many books listed to want to count them, but I see that every decade between 1810 and 1920 has a lot. That includes multiple books by Austen, Dickens, Dumas, Trollope, Twain, Zola, Balzac, and more.

Based only on the books I've marked as "read" in goodreads, the book I've read with the oldest original publication date is the Tao Te Ching, 600 BC.

10th Century - Beowulf

14th Century - The Inferno

19th Century - I've got 16 listed in goodreads, including most of Jane Austen's books, Frankenstein, Jane Eyre, Walden, Black Beauty. What I haven't listed in goodreads is all of the poetry from the 1800s that I've read. I love and have read many of the romantic poets - Byron, Shelley, Coleridge, Keats, Wordsworth, Blake - plus Burns, Tennyson, Dickinson, Clare, and Baudelaire.

I have enjoyed many books published before I was born, and have a ton more on my list of books I want to read.

I do own some old books, but nothing of monetary value. I have part of a series of collected works (Collected works of Poe, Chekhov, Stephenson, etc.). Walter J. Black editions published 1927 - 1932.

I read a series of mystery novels by John Dunning that featured a book collector as a main character. I found all of the facts and tidbits about book collecting really interesting.

I tallied them up and it looks like prior to my birth decade (the 1960s) the decade with the most published books that I've read is the 1940s. Weirdly the 1940s seems to me like "not that long ago" but also, it's 80 years ago... yikes.

This is an interesting question, Jason, thanks for posting it. I enjoyed going through my list of books by publication date - it gives the list a different perspective.

What in particular draws your interest to books published before the 17th century, if you don't mind my asking?

My first thought was Don Quixote which I read in January 2020. It was first published in 1615.

But then I thought of all those years of studying Latin and Greek when I was in high school .... The Iliad, The Odyssey, The Aeniad ... etc.

So, the oldest would be Ovid's Metamorphoses first published circa year 8 (AD ... or CE if you prefer)

@BC - I forgot Metamorphoses! Read that too...after seeing an awesome Off-Broadway adaptation.

Kimber wrote: "Based only on the books I've marked as "read" in goodreads, the book I've read with the oldest original publication date is the Tao Te Ching, 600 BC.

10th Century - Beowulf

14th Century - The Inf..."

Thank-you for appreciating the question. I love history. I tend to read 18th century literature onward without urging and the titles from these time periods are well known and normally don't seem daunting. I think prior to 18th century literature, we are not as aware of the books and they seem like feats. I did a Century Challenge a few years ago and I greatly enjoyed reading early literature. These books require research just to find sometimes. Our literature today was transformed by these pieces of the past.

I read what was considered the first science fiction novel Lucian's True History;. "It is the earliest known work of fiction to include travel to outer space, alien lifeforms, and interplanetary warfare. As such, A True Story has been described as "the first known text that could be called science fiction".[1][2][3][4] However the work does not fit into typical literary genres: its multilayered plot and characters have been interpreted as science fiction, fantasy, satire or parody, and have been the subject of much scholarly debate."

I loved this book and the research about it added to my love. "In one view, Lucian intended his story to be a form of literary criticism, a satire against contemporary and ancient sources which quote fantastic and mythical events as truth. He mentions the tales of Ctesias, Iambulus, and Homer and states that "what did surprise me was their supposition that nobody would notice they were lying." Many characters and events are exaggerated to ridiculous ends to mock the original tellings. As noted by classicist B.P. Reardon, "above all, it is a parody of literary 'liars' like Homer and Herodotus".[30] Consequently, Lucian goes on to state that the story recounted in A True Story is about "things I have neither seen nor experienced nor heard tell of from anybody else; things, what is more, that do not in fact exist and could not ever exist at all. So my readers must not believe a word I say."[31] He justifies the title by arguing that his is the only truthful mythological story ever written, inasmuch as it is the only one that admits that it is all lies. He also promises a sequel but it is not known if such a sequel exists."

I also read some early Christian literature as well as some Jewish histories. These books gives perspective to a different time, in a different lands. You find books that changed writing and story telling like Don Quixote. You start to read some of what is considered the "firsts" in a genera or style. You can learn about people and events forgotten through time. Go back far enough and you get more Greek and Roman stories, before Christianity was the dominate religion in Rome (this happened early in the 4th century).

I have only read 1 BCE book. I want to read more from this time. Virgil, Homer, Herodotus, Euripides and the philosophers: Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, Confucius and more. Its amazing to me that these people words still exist, can still hold value, and have influenced our own writing and story telling as well as our values and society. At the very least, they give a window into times that have affected our values and society.

I just watched the most wonderful engaging 2019 documentary about rare books and their booksellers that fits right into this conversation: The Booksellers directed by D.W. Young and produced by Parker Posey. Film Forum, an art house movie theater in NYC, has gone to virtual cinema to stay in business during pandemic closure. For a 3 day rental fee of $4.99, you can watch this documentary film on your computer or any device. It is well worth it.

Here's a link: https://filmforum.org/film/the-bookse...

Book collecting and rare book dealing isn't just about Jane Austen or Moby Dick. There are segments about black literature, Hip Hop, books by women about women, science fiction, the list goes on. Side note: many of the NYC stores featured are ones I've been in. I'll never forget walking into Argosy when I was around 20 - and was totally intimidated! I did actually buy a Currier & Ives print as a Christmas gift for my mother on that visit. Past time I went back. I would not be intimidated now. I also once at a very young and poor age went to the Antiquarian Book Fair at the Armory which is also featured. I was overwhelmed there too.

I'm definitely going to be watching it a second time, even a third, before my rental period runs out.

Oh, and I recommend 2 other films offered - each rental is under $10.00 - and some, not all, can be viewed on devices like Roku via one of the channels you can download - you rent the film at the website and once you have confirmation, you can watch it on any device or on Roku.

The 2 other films:

La Traversee de Paris (A Pig Across Paris) - set in German occupied Paris where 2 Parisians are attempting to transport blackmarket fresh pork across blacked out and curfew Paris. It is a wonderful comedy, and a beautifully restored print (film dates from mid 1950s) that is considered the best depiction of Paris under the occupation in existance. And it's a great movie. Rent on that one is $6.99 but I was also able to watch it via Roku on my tv.

Pauline Kael documentary -- once upon a time, the week was not complete without the NY Times Sunday Crossword Puzzle and Pauline Kael's latest review. Alert: watch for expert Lili Anolik's contributions - Lili is an editor on Vanity Fair, an author, one of the few people I know who has also read Proust cover to cover, and a beloved client of mine.

I would enjoy "The Booksellers", Theresa, and will check it out!

Originally, when Jason posted this topic, I didn't think I'd have anything to add, since the books I like tend to be contemporary ones. However, all of your comments have jogged my memory. So, here are my 2 cents (in no particular order).

It's surprising how many of you took Latin or Greek in high school. I studied Latin from a wonderful teacher who made it come alive. We read The Odyssey with her as well as other books.

I remember just hating Silas Marner and Moby Dick which we were forced to read in high school. I enjoyed the Bronte sisters.

In 5th grade, I made a life-long friend while we read Little Women together. We then went on to read Alcott's Little Men.

My mother kept old bound books of Grimm's fairy tales which had beautiful illustrations. Our joke was that the Grimm brothers wrote grim tales, but we loved the books. When my mother died, her brother asked to have them.

With a public school education, we as students read Thoreau, Emerson, Whitman, Yeats, Blake and many others. I love Yeats' poetry to this day. I also like Dylan Thomas' and e.e. cummings' poems.

This is just a smattering of memories for me. I guess I was wrong. I'm not just a contemporary novel reader.

e.e. Cummings is one of my favorite poets also


Theresa, thankyou for sharing this. The Booksellers looks amazing. When things open back up and are safe, we need to do a PBT New York City book tour guided by Theresa.

@ Jason I am in for that!

Jason wrote: "I love history. I tend to read 18th century literature onward without urging and the titles from these time periods are well known and normally don't seem daunting. I think prior to 18th century literature, we are not as aware of the books and they seem like feats. I did a Century Challenge a few years ago and I greatly enjoyed reading early literature. These books require research just to find sometimes. Our literature today was transformed by these pieces of the past."

I strongly agree that books written prior to the 18th Century are more challenging to find and to read. The Century Challenge sounds nice, because it seems to me that challenging books are easier when there are others with whom you can discuss.

I'm very grateful the "some college" I've had in my life included philosophy classes. We studied some of the philosophers you mention - Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, Confucius - and since then I've gone on to read other modern/more contemporary philosophers on my own.

It is amazing that the thoughts and ideas of people from thousands of years ago have survived to the modern day, and reading books from the past reminds me that no matter what time period we lived in we're all just people trying to make our way using the same basic feelings/emotions.

This conversation reminded me how much I enjoy the work of journalist/author Geraldine Brooks, who does historical research and then takes tiny seeds from historical records and transforms them into a work of historical fiction. If I was ever to write a book, I think I'd enjoy using that method for material.

So, as far as books on my "to read" list that are pre-1700s, I've got a few:

The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson (1220)
The Saga of the Volsungs (1275)
Le Morte d'Arthur by Thomas Mallory (1485)
Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes (1605)
Shakespeare's Sonnets (1609)

and just over the line into the 1700s:

Candide by Voltaire (1759)
Vathek by William Beckford (1786)
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft (1792)

If anyone was interested in a group read of any of these, I'd be in.

Sorry to have missed this last week. Like Theresa I consciously went looking into ancient writings and history. After a book group on a new translation of the Odyssey 2 yrs ago, last year I redid the Iliad (which I dipped into in Ancient Greek in high school) and read lot of take-offs and history around Homer (like "Why Homer Matters" and even sci fi). Followed with Thucydides on the Pelloponnesian War (5th century BC, reflecting back >100 yr; along with 11 Ancient Greek plays in same century) and modern histories on the Persians and Egyptians. Now onto the Roman period this year.

Earliest published read: Gilgamesh, around 1800 BC.
Next oldest ones after Athens golden age:
The Bhagavad Gita--4th century BC.
Golden Ass and Marcus Aurelius--2nd century AD
Confessions of St. Augustine--4th century AD
Beowulf--10th century

Big leap after that:
17th century: Rabelais, Moliere, Shakespeare--12 books
18th century: Voltaire, Sterne, Goldsmith, Goethe--5
19th century to 1850--17 books
19th from 1850--230 books

Am open to recommendations on the Roman period. Have done Mary Beard's history of early period, "SPQD", novels by Colleen McCullough, John Williams' "Augustus", and look forward to Graves' "Count Belasarius" (did his Claudius ones long ago), Yourcenar's "Memoirs of Hardrian", and Vidal's "Julian".

Kimber, I would be happy to read some of these with you.

I have already read The Prose Edda and Don Quixote. Karen is a descendant of Snorri Sturluson. I recommend also reading Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman not long before or after reading The Prose Edda. I also want to read The Poetic Edda. I thought I had, but apparently not.

Jason wrote: "e.e. Cummings is one of my favorite poets also


Theresa, thankyou for sharing this. The Booksellers looks amazing. When things open back up and are safe, we need to do a PBT New York City book tou..."

Delighted to organize! It would include visits to NYPL Galleries where the original Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore that inspired Milne reside, and The Morgan Library & Museum. And indie bookstores in multiple boroughs.

@Michael - I had forgotten Gilgamesh! I too read that. Still have my copy from college.

@Kimber - There were 2 college courses I deliberately took to explore philosophy:
-a pure philosophy course where I struggled with Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Hume, and others and where I realized pure philosophy courses did not work for me;
-one of the best college courses I took on a senior's suggestion when I was a freshman: philosophy in literature that led me to Siddhartha and The Glass Bead Game, The Magic Mountain, and Proust book 1, Swann's Way.

A comparative religions seminar included reading Gilgamesh and Hesiod.

The semester I spent in Paris included french literary theory seminar - Bergson, Derrida, even Camus.

Much was a struggle for me, and I came to accept that I am not a philosopher or theorist, but a lover of invention and fiction and drama. I love stories. But dipping into the rest informs my reading of stories.

I've read books from at least as old as the 1700s BC--didn't finish The Epic of Gilgamesh, though. Some of the things I have read have been given different dates depending on the people involved in dating them (eg The Code of Hammurabi, but most say 1700s BC).

Jason, do you mean me, Karin or Karen? I am a descendant of Snorri Sturluson through at least 2 of his daughters on one side of my genealogy (not sure about the other side--it's a very small country, but it's probable I am descended from all of his kids who had kids that survived down this far).