The oldest thing I own

I have two things I own that I suppose are old and definitely meaningful to me: 1) an autographed picture of Clarence Darrow; and 2) a Second Edition Alice in Wonderland.

The autographed picture of Clarence Darrow is actually a program from an event held by the Bar Association of Lawrence Massachusetts.  My grandfather was a member of the Lawrence Bar and attended the evening with Clarence Darrow.  At the time my mother was collecting autographs, so my grandfather brought back Darrow's autograph for my mom.  While it wasn't quite the sort of autograph my mom had hoped for, she did manage to hang onto it.  And when I started law school, my mom had the Clarence Darrow autograph framed for me.  It sat on my desk while I studied.  Althought I did abandoned the honorable legal profession, I ended up naming my daughter Darrow after the patron saint of benevolent litigation.

My Second Edition Alice in Wonderland is an anchor tenant in an ever growing collection of Alice in Wonderlands.  I doubt I will ever have a first edition Alice.  The first edition runs in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.  The second edition, less so.  But it is absolutely beautiful.  I got this Alice from my mom and dad as a graduation present from Cambridge.  While I was studying at Cambridge, I started collecting versions of Alice in Wonderland.  My parents came out to England to visit and we travelled all around.  And during our travels we happened upon this Alice in a cute little book shop (I think it might have been in Bath England but I can't remember for sure).   My parents bought it for me for graduation, only reenforcing a growing obsession with Alice in Wonderland.