E-Hymnals and Other Books

I've been thinking about how, before musical notation was included in hymnals, hymnals were essentially books of sacred poetry, and I've wished for the same sort of hymnal to carry with me throughout the day to open and read in those quiet moments when the brain needs something to keep it on the right path.

Enter the digital age!

I have just purchased my very own Sony Digital Reader, and here are some things I've made to load into it - including some grand old hymnals to read like poetry books; they way your grandparents and great-grandparents used to. Enjoy!

If you don't have an e-reader, take heart!
These can be read in any program that reads RTF files.

I am not knowingly breaking any copyright laws - if you see something that is copyrighted and I need to take down, please let me know.

Click on the file you would like and download and enjoy.

Book             Explanation
Old Testament   When I bought my E-Reader I wrote to my LDS church headquarters scriptures department and asked if they had .rtf versions of the scriptures I could load to my e-reader - they told me to simply cut and paste from "THE SCRIPTURES CD", so that is what I'm doing, but it still requires a lot of reformatting. I will post the files here as I complete the formatting. NOTE: I am formatting a few things a little differently than in the printed versions for ease of searching and reading on the small screen. These also do not have the study aids the printed versions or the CD has - if you want to use an electronic version with study aids then you need to buy THE SCRIPTURES CD ($6) from the Distribution Center or go to http://scriptures.lds.org/.
New Testament
Book of Mormon
Doctrine & Covenants
Pearl of Great Price

HYMNALS
Do you know of other hymnals I can offer here?
 
Olney Hymnal   An old beloved favorite; published in 1779 and written by John Newton and William Cowper; two men who personally understood God's Love, Mercy, and Grace for His children.
 Isaac Watts   Includes 'Psalms of David', 'Hymns and Spiritual Songs' (3 volumes), and 'Divine and Moral Songs for Children'.
1835 LDS
Kirtland Hymnal
  The very first LDS hymnal. Complied by Emma Smith, it shows incredible taste and understanding on hymns to be used for general congregational use. Some texts are seriously dated to her time, but they are still good ones.
1840 LDS Manchester Hymnal   While Emma Smith was compiling a successor to the Kirtland Hymnal, church leaders in England compiled a hymnal for Latter-day Saints in that country, Parley P. Pratt acting as the main editor and compiler. It became the church's standard hymnal for several decades. Some texts are seriously dated, but they are still good ones.
1841 LDS
Nauvoo Hymnal
  Emma Smith's second hymnal, this one contained many more general Christian hymns and many more LDS-written texts. Some texts are seriously dated to her time, but they are still good ones. This is the only LDS hymnal to include that time-honored and proven 'Amazing Grace'.
1985 LDS Hymns   The current LDS hymnal minus those hymns that have copyright notices not allowing them to be freely copied.
     
OTHER DOWNLOADABLE FILES
     
Declaration of Independence & Constitution   These files are formatted from the U.S. Constitution page of this website and includes many of the explanatory footnotes I've written. It all began as a home-school aide and just kept growing. Please visit the website for extensive information - but here are some of the essentials.
Latter-day Saints & the Constitution  
Stevenson Poetry   The collected volumes of poetry by Robert Lewis Stevenson. I had not read any of his poetry since childhood, and I have only recently discovered he wrote more then "A Child's Garden of Verses". I think he's one of he the best poets ever.


PLACES TO GO FOR MORE BOOKS
 

Feedbooks.com   a HUGE electronic library!
Project Gutenberg   a huge collection of literature, all in .txt format.
Christian Classics Ehtereal Library   many classic Christian texts! A must for the e-reading Christian!
   LDS and World Classics   classic tests of interest to the Latter-day Saint e-reader