Old Books

I am asked - never mind why - "What is the oldest book you own?". It's an imprecise question.

I'm tempted to say "The Hobbit" is the first book I bought still on my shelves, but I also see a copy of Wurzel Gummidge. Hmmm.

But "the oldest book" on my shelf? A prime candidate must be my great-grandmother's Geography school exercise book.

Maria Davey was 15 years old when she started this lovely thing: hard bound blank pages, on each of which she has drawn a map. It seems likely that these were copied from some printed source (otherwise it's just stunning) but the ink drawings and annotations are very good. On some pages the teacher "EB" has inscribed a comment ... "Fair", "Good", "Excellent" and so on.

Just about every map is of a piece of the then Empire. The map of Africa I especially like, as the interior was (to Maria) essentially unknown.

           
Malta (L) and Africa (R). Click to enlarge.

Maria was the daughter of Captain Charles Davey, who circumnavigated under sail. She married Sam Blackmore (surely Devon's most common surname) in 1883 and died sadly young on Christmas Day 1913. She's buried with Sam and my grandparents in Littleham churchyard. She had two sons, the second of which (Reg) married Flo Hayne, who produced my mother in 1924. She produced me.