1840's Summer Must Read List ~

For you avid readers out there, here is a little more for your summer must read list, 1840's style ~ the first five pages from that little gem we came across from archive.org.

• Think D.D. Collins may have gotten a chuckle from page 4 and shared the anecdotes with the local big bugs?

• Did they discuss the eclipses like we do today?

• Or maybe check their horoscopes?

• Or did D.D. study the Chronological Events? You can bet he studied the Distances from St. Louis via the River as he planned his plank road . . . or maybe he kept the "Cure for Felons" for when he became a judge.

At any rate, as it was in 1840, it remains today . . . a plumb fascinating read for which to ponder.

What? You don't know what a "big bug" is? Scroll to the bottom of the page to learn the meaning of this 1800s slang term . . .

Excerpt cover and pages 1 - 4 from:

"The Illinois Farmer's Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge, For The Year 1840."

Click each image to see a PDF you can zoom as large as you desire to read the actual archive and enjoy the rage of the day circa 1840.

The last line in the right column still holds true to this day ~

"Health is better than Wealth."

More pages will be published each week until the entire almanac is published.

Thanks to archive.com for making historical data available to the public and to Knox College for contributing the almanac.

"Big bugs" definition ~ bigwigs; important people.

1853: Who is that walking there with the big bugs in front? he eagerly asked. Why, don't you know? That is the Governor.

Daily Morning Herald, St. Louis, May 10