Weekly Geeks - Antique Books

This week's Weekly Geeks post is one that caught my attention for sure: Antique Books. The post question is as follows:

The other day I was noticing the old books on my book shelf. Old, meaning books that were "born" a long long time ago. Books that were published AND printed a long long time ago. (Not simply books that have been sitting on our shelves forever!)And it made me wonder what old books other readers have in their collection.

So this week, write a post sharing with us what old antique books you may have on your shelves, and tell us the story behind them. Did you inherit from a relative? Are you a collector of old and rare books? Did you just discover a certain book in a used book store and couldn't pass it up? What's the very oldest book you have? Do you even like old books? Or do they creep you out? Do you read and enjoy your old books, or is it more a "look and don't touch" thing?

 My answer is that I definitely have a few antique books, and I could easily see myself becoming a collector (if I only had the income). The two clearest examples I have are both more of the "look don't touch" category - but not because I don't want to, but because I can't read them!

The first is the Ancrene Wisse manuscript as edited by J.R.R. Tolkien. It's a lovely edition from the Early English Text Society, dating from 1962. To me at least, that makes it an antique! Why I haven't read it yet? It's in Old/Middle English and Latin. When I bought the book, I was under the impression that it was a translation. An "oops" on my part.

The other one is very similar: Also an Early English Text Society edition. This one is of Sir Gawain And The Green Knight. I haven't read it because I have got other versions that I prefer: translation and facing page translation.

Other than those, I have a nice box of children's books that I haven't looked in for years. But, I remember that there should be some of the Bobsey Twins, Nancy Drew books and Cherry Ames - and more than a few of those have the old brown cloth covers. I don't know if they count as antiques, but they were passed down to me from my mother.