When you start to think about the oldest books that a library might hold, there are any number of rabbit holes you can fall down. What’s the oldest book in any particular city? What’s the oldest book in the world? Well, what do you mean by “book”? The oldest written text? The oldest manuscript? The oldest printed material? The oldest bound book?….
In the history of writing, bound books as we know them today arrive fairly late, so there are no actual “books” on this list. Instead, this is a wondrous collection of illuminated manuscripts, papyrus scrolls, and clay tablets. Some of these items you can even see in person, if you pay a visit.
New York Academy of Medicine
Apicius, De re culinaria
Apicius, De re culinaria, courtesy of the New York Academy of Medicine Library
Created: A.D. 830, Germany
Synopsis: The earliest surviving cookbook in the West, this Latin manuscript contains recipes that date all the way back to the fourth century B.C. These were recipes meant for average Roman households, although they included non-native spices that would have had to travel far to reach the Mediterranean. Some of the highlights, according to the library, are “roast lamb with coriander, deep-fried honey fritters, and cucumber with mint dressing.”…
The College of Physicians of Philadelphia
Constantinus Africanus, Viaticum
Viaticum, College of Physicians
Created: No later than 1244, Italy
Synopsis: In the 10th century A.D., Ibn al-Jazzar, an Muslim physician, wrote a book titled Provisions for the Traveler and the Nourishment of the Settled, a compendium of the medical knowledge of the day, which focused on the interaction of humours and elements in the human body. A few decades later, Constantinus traveled from North Africa to a monastery in southern Italy, where he adapted and translated Ibn al-Jazzar’s work into Latin….
Chicago Botanic Garden
Theophrastus, Historia Plantarum
Created: 1483, Treviso, Italy
Synopsis: Back in the third century B.C., Theophrastus, one of the first botanists of the Western world, set out to catalogue the the plants of ancient Greece and created the first known classifications of plants in his part of the world. He covered a range of trees, shurbs, dwarf shrubs, and herbs and examined how they grew and were used in his own time….
American Museum of Natural History
Albertus Magnus, De animalibus
De Animalibus, © ANMH Library
Created: 1495, Venice, Italy
Synopsis: Albertus Magnus spent his life studying and commenting on the works of Aristotle. Without his work, much less knowledge of the Greek philosopher would have made it to future generations of scholars. Albertus, who died in 1280 and was later canonized, wrote widely about the scientific and natural worlds. This volume collects his work on the animal kingdom….
Austrian National Library
Book of the Dead
Created: 15 century B.C., Egypt
Synopsis: Sesostris was a cattle counter and writer in ancient Egypt, and he was well-off enough to own his own copy of the Book of the Dead. In contrast with its name, the book is actually a papyrus scroll, 20-foot long, that contains magical spells to help the recently deceased make their way to the afterlife.
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