Who knows how these things happen, but the dog snuck into my room today (while I was there reading), found the very oldest thing I owned, and started to eat it. Amazing. It didn't get too far but it did rip off part of the spine. That in itself is a shame, because this book was printed in 1838. So while relocating my old books to a higher shelf, I took some pictures of them (in case they mysteriously disappear).

The inside of that same book. Insides of old books rock.

The title page. It's a 2000-page compendium of religious knowledge. Note how it promises info on "Jews, Mohammedans, and Heathen Nations".

Have the Anglophones decided how to spell it yet? Bhuddha?

Great illustrations.

This is a history of Canada, printed in 1862. Funny, since Canada celebrates 1867 as its year of independence. Technically, it wasn't officially a country until 1982. Anyway, it appears this book was a gift commemorating 1867.

It's a least 500 pages of a country that didn't exist yet, and this is only volume one.

Two books from before 1900.

Oops, one of those previous books was written in the 1920s. Anyway, these three books were written by a B. T. Roberts, founder of Free Methodism. The open book, "Why Another Sect", was printed in 1879 but the church was founded years earlier.

From "Darkness In The Dark Continent": "The White Man's Responsibility. Africa, with its nearly 150,000,000 of native population, is in a certain large sense under European control. The native is as yet incapable of self-government. Therefore, what the native is to become depends upon the white man. The white man holds the destiny of Africa in his hands for better or for worse."

Free Methodist books of doctrine are revised every four years, since 1784. These are examples from the 1920s, 1930s, and 1950s.

For some reason this is my favorite. This is 1930s pocketbook for pastors who need help writing funeral sermons.

Under "Funeral of a Young Person", separate sections for boys, girls, and infants.

A handwritten record of funerals performed. :)