An old book

This is probably the oldest thing that I possess, apart from some seriously old rocks and fossils. Printed in Edinburgh in 1666 it is a small, parchment-bound pocket book, written in Latin throughout. Needless to say, I have never read it, but I do like old things for their own sake. A written inscription on the inside of the parchment cover is very difficult to read but I think that it says "This seems to have been a school book of John, Earl of Sutherland, died 1735". On the last page the owner has written "Lord John Gordon, Lord of his Book". I bought the book in 1963 in an Aberdeen bookshop. I seem to remember that it cost me 1 shilling. That doesn't sound much, but at that time a waitress-served three course lunch could be had for just 9p in the Student Union!

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