The most prized book in my collection is Chambers' 1869 The Book of Days. It sits on my night stand ready to entertain and enlighten.

Over the years, I've described it as the 1869 version of today's "Trivial Pursuit" or "cultural literacy" books, but those descriptions do it a disservice.

Its detailed descriptions of key historical events, the life and times of people, both great and infamous, and long forgotten customs of cultures from every corner of the world, is a must-read for anyone aspiring to understand history as our forefathers saw it.

Organized along the days of the calendar, it serves up history in easily absorbable sizes. In doing so, it encourages readers to set aside a hour or so every night to nourish their minds.

Unfortunately, there is only a limited number of the The Book of Days in existence. The purpose of this web site is to allow those who have never heard of or had access to a copy of the book, or could not afford a copy, to have access to its rich contents. 

By converting the scanned pages into text, we've also made its contents searchable, which we hope will increase your ability to easily locate that one particular anecdote, biography, or historical event that has eluded you over the years. We've also created  indices to allow you to easily identify and jump to any topic or item of interest, and we've interlinked the pages with hyperlinks and bookmarks so when mention is made of something like the Restoration of Charles II, you can jump right to the section in the page detailing this event.

To access the information on a particular day, click on the link titled Calendar of Days.

This hyperlinked and searchable Chambers' The Book of Days is brought to you by the members of the Greater Emmitsburg Area Historical Society, of Emmitsburg Maryland.

Click here to read Robert Chambers' Introduction to the Book of Days