Explanation
This is the follow-up to The Rarest of Books, the story that prompted the director of the Idaho Center of the Book in Boise to find out once and for all where the oldest book in the state is kept.

Idaho's Oldest Book Located
Publishing scholar learns the state's oldest book lives in Boise, not Pocatello

By Arik Hesseldahl
Of The Journal

Tom Trusky couldn't help but wonder if the oldest book in Idaho really was at Idaho State University.

Trusky, director of the Boise-based Idaho Center of the Book, had read an article in the Idaho State Journal last December about a book in Idaho State University's Eli M. Oboler Library that might be the oldest book in the state.

The book, "The Sermons of Maister John Calvin on the Booke of Job," was published in London in 1584, and contains 750 pages of the Protestant religious reformer's sermons and writings.

In the Journal story, Gary Domitz, head of special collections at the ISU library, had speculated it might be the oldest book in Idaho.

Domitz's claim began to nag at Trusky. Shouldn't Idahoans know for sure where the state's oldest book could be found?

He doubted ISU's bragging rights. He was correct.

The oldest book in Idaho is at BSU. And two other, slightly newer books, but both older than the ISU book, are at the University of Idaho at Moscow.

The books are classified as "incunabula" -- a librarian's term for books published before the year 1500.

The oldest of the three is a 1479 edition of the "Historica Scholastica" by Petrus Comestor, a 12th Century religious historian. It is held by the special collections department at the BSU library.

During the Middle Ages, the book was considered the most important work of Biblical scholarship and was required reading for scholars until the 18th Century, said Alan Virta, head of special collections at the BSU library.

The book was published during an important period of history. Christopher Columbus was 13 years away from making his first voyage to the New World. The Italian artist Michaelangelo was a 4-year old child. Polish astronomer Copernicus was six years old.

The book became part of BSU's collection after being purchased in 1955 by Ruth McBirney, head librarian at what was then Boise Junior College. "She went over on a personal strip to England and picked up a number of rare books for the library," Virta said.

"We didn't have much at all representing the medieval period or the Renaissance. So she went over to visit some rare books shops, and this was one of the examples she came back with."

The book was at one time owned by Englishman William Blades, a bibliographic historian, who lived from 1824 until 1890. His bookplate appears inside the front cover. Blades is best known for a series of books he wrote on the early history of book publishing in England.

Nothing is known about any owners of the book prior to Blades, but they surely left their mark. Virta said the first several pages of the book are soiled and appear to have been well-read. Several handwritten notes in Latin appear in the margins. But later pages are fairly clean, and may not have been consulted as much.

"I wish I knew more about where it has been. It's more than 500 years old, it must have been in the collection of some monastery or ancient university somewhere. It must have a fascinating history," Virta said.

Two other incunabula can be found at the University of Idaho. One is a 1492 edition of the Biography of Pope Gregory I, printed in Venice, Italy. The second is a Latin version of the New Testament of The Bible printed in Nuremburg in 1497.

"Those are the earliest books that I know about in the state. There may be others in the hands of private collectors, but I've heard no such word from the sources I have contacted," Trusky said.