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Vox in the Box

May 1998 Vox
Article
Vox in the Box
May 1998 Vox

DEAR VOX What is the oldest book in Baker?

Respectfully Submitted, Biblio Pfeil

Dear Biblio, It depends on what you mean by "book."The American Heritage Dictionary defines a book as "a written or printed literary work." Using this definition, a book means am thing from cuneiform tablet (a written work) to illuminated manuscript (a printed work). The oldest document in Baker is a tax list dating back to 2350 B.C. from central Babylon. If you don't define aclay tablet as a book. the libraiy dose have a papy riis dating from the fifth century B.C. Of course, the papyrus is a written document. The illuminated manuscript encompasses the modern conception of book, The oldest western manuscript in Baker is the Liber Glosmrum dating between 800 and 825 A.D. The earliest primed document available in Baker is the Qutenberg Bible, circa 1454. If you want to split hairs, however, this technically isn't: the oldest book because Dartmouth doesn't own the whole thing—only leaves from it.

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