Most of us have heard of buying a house “as is.” Fewer have bought one where the sellers left nearly everything inside. The creator behind @marykateblount did, and she says going through all of it was a treasure hunt that lasted months. Two of the things she turned up are the subject of this short post: a Bible printed in 1870 and a book of poetry.
Her caption sums it up: “We found an 1870 Bible and my great grandmother’s poetry in our house.” Here is what she shows and says.
The Deal That Left Everything Behind
She explains how it came about. When she and her family bought the house, the deal they worked out with the previous owners was that the owners did not have to move anything. The sellers held a couple of estate sales. Whatever they did not want or did not sell, they simply left behind for the new owners to take care of. She says they ended up with a lot of stuff, and she shows a couple of the things that were left.
First up is the Bible, which was printed in 1870. She is honest about its condition. It has obviously not been very well taken care of, she says, and the spine is falling apart. Even so, she is delighted. “How cool is that?” she asks about a book that is more than 150 years old.
Inside, she points to an inscription that she reads as a memorial to a woman. A name is written there, though the audio is not clear enough for us to repeat it with confidence. She also finds a scrap of paper tucked into the pages near the book of Isaiah. It looks as though someone was working out somebody’s ages, subtracting years from one another, the sort of quick arithmetic a person might do to figure out how old a relative was at a certain date. She does not say whose ages they are, and neither can we, but it is exactly the kind of personal clue that makes an old book feel alive.
A Book Of Poems
The second find is a book of poetry. She describes it as an entire book filled with poems that someone in the family wrote, and she says she thought it was really cool. She mentions that when she asked about it, she was told the poet had published the book in the 1990s. Her caption identifies the poet as her great grandmother. The details in the audio are brief, so the exact family connection is best left to her to explain, but the point is clear. A whole volume of poems had been sitting in the house, and it was now hers to read.
She finishes by calling the discovery cool, and it is easy to see why. The post is short, but it captures a feeling that anyone who has cleaned out an old house will recognize. You open a drawer or a box and find a piece of someone’s life.
Why Old Family Bibles Matter
An 1870 Bible is more than a religious book. For generations, families used the pages near the front or back to record births, marriages and deaths, so many old Bibles double as small family archives. Even if the Bible has been separated from the family that wrote in it, those handwritten notes can help a researcher trace relatives. If you find one, look carefully through the front and back for family record pages, and check between the leaves for pressed flowers, letters, funeral cards and notes.
The loose paper with age calculations in this one is a good example. Slips like that are often the only evidence of who someone thought was born when, so they are worth keeping exactly where they were found, or photographed in place if you plan to store them separately.
How To Care For A Fragile Old Book
The creator notes that the spine is falling apart, which is common with a book from this period. FamilySearch’s preservation guide for family Bibles and other books offers advice that applies here.
Keep it in a cool, dry place. Garages, attics and basements usually do not qualify unless they are temperature controlled and dry, so a closet in the main part of the house is a better choice.
Store it flat in an archival quality box to protect it from dust and light. Standing a book with a weak spine upright can strain the binding.
When you open it, support the cover boards so the book does not fall fully flat, because that strains the spine. Lift it by supporting the middle and do not pull it from a shelf by the top of the spine.
Wash and dry your hands first, and keep food, drink and ink away. Do not use tape, rubber bands or paper clips to hold a loose page in place.
Make a copy. The guide suggests scanning or photographing only the pages that matter, such as the family record page with names and dates, and never forcing a book open. A handheld scanner is gentler than a flatbed.
Tips If You Ever Buy A House With The Contents Left Inside
Her story is a happy one, but if you are in a similar situation, a bit of planning helps.
Put the agreement in writing. If the sellers are leaving items behind, have the contract spell out that the contents become yours, so there is no confusion later.
Sort in stages. Give yourself weeks or months, as she did. Start with the obvious trash and recycling, then work through boxes and drawers slowly.
Set aside anything personal. Photos, letters, books with inscriptions and handwritten papers may matter to the previous owners or their relatives. If you can, ask whether they would like them back, or at least keep a few for a while in case someone asks.
Check before you donate. Old books, glassware, tools and paper goods sometimes carry value. A quick look at what similar items sold for can save you from giving away something worth more than you think.
The Pleasure Of The Hunt
What stands out in this post is her attitude. She did not treat the leftovers as a chore. She treated them as a treasure hunt, and she took the time to look inside the Bible and read the poems. A frayed book with a loose spine and a slip of paper full of subtraction became the start of a story, and that is a good reminder that the best finds in an old house are often the quiet ones.
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