Published in 1759 - Our Newest Oldest Book

This week we’ve found a book that’s beaten the record for our oldest book. 

Published in 1759 we have discovered a copy of  The authenticity of the Gospel-history justified: and the truth of the Christian revelation demonstrated : from the laws and constitution of human nature by the late Archibald Campbell, D.D. Regius Professor of Divinity and Ecclesiastical History in the University of St. Andrew's.  It was printed in Edinburgh by Hamilton, Balfour, and Neill.  The author was Archilbald, Duke of Argyll but he died in 1756; this book was published by his widow after his death. Googling we have found that the book was issued in two volumes.  However, we only have one volume.  On the title page there is a small hole and it looks like something has been rubbed out and we think that this is where it originally said ‘in two volumes’.

There are no names or inscriptions so we’ve no idea of the provenance of the volume.

Although digitised and modern reprint editions of this book are available as print-on-demand, this 1759 first edition appears to be rare with our searches only finding a few copies in libraries around the world.  

Just one of the fascinating aspects book selling - we never know what gems we may discover in a box of old books.