-->''The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.''
-->--Ecclesiastes 1:9 (ca. 250 BC).

Any tropes that predate the election of John F. Kennedy to the U.S. Presidency (November 1960), divided by period:

*OlderThanDirt - Tropes older than writing (ending with Aesop, circa 500 BC).
*OlderThanFeudalism - Tropes between writing and the fall of Rome (500ish).
*OlderThanPrint - Tropes between the fall of Rome and the printing press (1439).
*OlderThanSteam - Tropes between the printing press (1439) and the steam engine (1700s).
*OlderThanRadio - Tropes between the steam engine (1700s) and the radio (1890s).
*OlderThanTelevision - Tropes between radio (1890s) and television (1940s).

'''Classic TV''' - tropes originating in TV itself, before 1960:

*AnimalTalk
* MyCarHatesMe - Exact first use unknown, but the coming of the freeway age in the 50s means it certainly must have been established by then.
*SpaceX

'''Video Games''' have a different cutoff date for being TheOldestOnesInTheBook, since they're more recent than television:
* OlderThanTheNES (The introduction of the NES in US in 1985)

Contrast with TheNewestOnesInTheBook.

Anal historical note: feudalism existed in some form in BC times; movable type in Greece about 300 BC; steam engines in the first century.

See also TheOldestTricksInTheBook.
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