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Rare 270-year-old book found in SC library vault

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — 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 tome, "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.

His library was housed at the Charleston Library Society, founded in 1748, until a proper library could be built at the fledgling college. But a devastating 1778 fire ripped through the Library Society and only 77 titles from the Mackenzie collection were thought to have survived.

The 78th, 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....

Read entire article at Yahoo News