Treasure Hunt

Yes, I am one of the hunters for treasure, but I am not searching for gold or something similar, I rather search for old books. I would like to present you one of my dearests catches.

I think it was about three or four years ago, I was walking through the street when one old man, who was selling books, caught my eye. I am one of the people that always want to look, even they are not buying anything, I just like to take a look. So I start searching, all books were on piles, so I was digging, there was almost nothing interesting, and then I saw two boxes, almost ruined from mildew and moisture, there was the price written on them All books 100 dinars (1$). So I take a look and wow, there was something really interesting for me.

Virgil, Aeneid, published in 1907, wow…

There was one woman, also searching for books, and while I was looking through my newest catch, she asked the seller about some trashy book, written by some modern, Serbian writer, and she bought it for 5$.

I felt lucky because I was going to make a great dill, I asked the old man:

-Is this really 1$ ?
He looked at me a bit sadly and answered affirmatively
-Do you know how worthy this is? I asked.
-Sure, I know, but no one would buy that

I gave him that 1$(100 dinars) and took the book.

I felt a little bit like a scavenger, but it is not my fault.

Virgil was one of the most famous Roman writers. He wrote Aeneid between 29-17 years B.C. at the age of Octavian Augustus. So I found the book that was written about 2000 years ago, and printed in Serbian translation, about 110 years. It is pretty old in every case.

I read it immediately when I arrived at the home. I found a special place for it, to save it for my kids.
For sure, it is in bad condition, but It is just aesthetics, it is readable without any problems.

I like sometimes just to open it, and to look at that year, 1907. It is old more that century. That recognizable smell of old paper… I was always passionate about old things, probably that’s why I choose to be a historian. Sometimes I just start thinking how much lives and faces that book saw, how much hands was touching…

Maybe it was worth 1$ but in my hands it is priceless.

Milos.