holy cow ... printed in 1711

I found a couple antique books at my parents house ... I just about fainted dead away when I read "Printed and Sold by James Blow, M,DCC,XI".

1711 ... seventeen eleven!!! WHOA! Now that's cause for passing out, huh?! It's in pretty good shape considering all those years - 303 years.

 

The left hand page bears a name and the words, "His book".

The right hand page is a personal note from a long ago relative 

of mine, which appears to have been sewn into the front of 

the book. The book was given as a gift from a grandmother
to a granddaughter in 1861.

Names and years are noted here. Sadly pretty much unreadable.

I am wondering if these are all names of people who were
gifted the book? 1807 is written upside down - notations
seem to be written any which way.

"The Instructor
or
Young Man's Best Companion"
Note the bottom of the right hand page, this is where it states 1711 -
BELFAST
Printed and Sold by James Blow, M,DCC,XI
So exciting! Pass the smelling salts!

So charming, appears to be wood block prints?

I can make out one relatives name here 

and the year 1786, at almost the back.

I can find two years noted on these pages, 1749 and
1776 (now I'm not sure of that when I look at it again)
and recognize the same relatives name and a date of
December 29th, but year is unreadable.

Hope you got a kick out of this too!

Happy Hump Day!