Wouldn't you like to discover something like this that you didn't know you had? A rare book almost 270 years old has been found in the vault of the oldest library in the South, but, after all this time, the library won't be able to keep it. The 1743 book, Dissertation Upon Parties by Henry St. John Lord Bolingbroke, was one of 800 volumes that planter and diplomat John Mackenzie donated to the College of Charleston in the 1700s.
The Bolingbroke book, was found as part of a multi-year search through the Library Society vaults to record the thousands of volumes it contains. After centuries, the book about political parties, with Mackenzie's name embossed on it, will be returned to College of Charleston officials at a ceremony on Thursday.
Library archivist Trisha Kometer says the contents of its vaults, one of which is located behind an antique shop on Charleston's King Street, remain unclear. "We have lists but because the library itself has been moved from place to place to place, the collections have been integrated, they have been pulled apart and a lot has gone on during the years," she said, making it difficult to tell for sure.
The recent search of the archives has already turned up several other gems that librarians didn't know were there.
You can read more at: http://goo.gl/eY0d3.
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