This all-in-one guidebook, published in 1884, instructs the reader on managing the rural household or farm, and provides contact information for many notable local businesses. The successful handling of home, farm, or business is paramount in the text, with instructions such as effective methods of bookkeeping. When compared to similar manuals of the time, The Canadian Home, Farm, and Business Cyclopedia was not meant to be followed dutifully; it is a resource for the various challenges that may face the late-nineteenth century farmer. Such a book would have been a popular addition to the farmer’s or new immigrant’s bookshelf as a thorough and important source of relevant information.

The Canadian Home, Farm and Business Cyclopaedia. Toronto: J.S. Robertson, 1884. Archival & Special Collections, University of Guelph Library