Oldest Book at the Lorain Public Library – August 1938

Do you ever reread a book every so often?

I do. It’s like watching a favorite movie over and over again. Even though you know what’s going to happen, it’s fun to revisit it.

I have several favorite books that I pull off the shelf every few years to enjoy all over again. But sometimes the shelf they're on is at the Lorain Public Library.

One of these books is – or was – Groucho and Me (1959), the autobiography of comedian Groucho Marx. I say, ‘was’ because even though I borrowed it from the Lorain Public Library every couple of years, it finally disappeared from the library’s collection.

Now, I've been borrowing Groucho and Me from the Main Library since I was in high school in the 1970s, back when library books still had the little card in the pocket on the inside back cover that kept track of when it was due. So I was pretty annoyed when the book disappeared from the shelf, leaving a hole right next to the other books about famous Marxes. (Strangely enough, Harpo Speaks – the autobiography of Harpo Marx, one of Groucho’s brothers – made the cut, although it might be gone by now too.)

When I asked one of the librarians why the book was no longer part of the collection, I was told that any book that doesn’t get borrowed very often is gotten rid of. That’s their policy.

But when I inquired as to why the Lorain Public Library couldn’t spare two inches of shelf space for the autobiography of one of the country’s best-known humorists, I received an icy glare. I’m lucky I wasn’t ejected from the premises like some unpopular book.

Anyway, apparently this ‘thinning of the herd’ has been going on for a long time at the Lorain Public Library. But according to the article below, which appeared in the Lorain Journal back on August 24, 1938, one book (actually a set of three) has made the cut for decades, making it the oldest book in the collection. The book? History of the Conquest of Mexico.

So is History of the Conquest of Mexico still on the shelf at the Lorain Public Library? It doesn’t look like it, according to the library website.

But not to worry. Even though History of the Conquest of Mexico probably ended up in a Lorain Public Library Book Sale, selling for a penny, you can still find a copy of it. There are several editions of it on biblio.com, and at least one on eBay.

I might just buy one of these sets and donate it to the library – and start the cycle all over again! But I gotta remember to borrow it more often than I borrowed Groucho and Me.