McGuffey Readers

The McGuffey Readers, first published in 1836/37, were a set of highly influential school textbooks for use in the elementary grades in the United States. Indeed, owing to their widespread usage over many years, they played an important role in shaping the American character itself. From the year in which they were first published, and for nearly a century thereafter, successive generations of American school children used these Readers to acquire basic literacy and to imbibe the moral and character lessons they taught.

Through the 1850s, William Holmes McGuffey (1800-73) was the author of the first 4 volumes of what would eventually become a six volume set, one for each grade level. In subsequent years, a series of editors took over the responsibility for the Readers which nevertheless were faithful in retaining their original character as moral shapers of the youth who used them.

A major revision in 1879 altered the slant of the Readers away from the stark Calvinism which had marked the earlier versions, but did so without sacrificing the religious and moral objectives.

Over the course of its history, the Readers sold over 125 million copies. That history is yet unfinished, though, as the Readers remain in demand among many who are dissatisfied with modern trends in education and seek a return to a more traditional, "values oriented" education of an earlier era.

Publication history

The fledgling publishing firm of Truman & Smith, of Cincinnati, Ohio, was the impetus for bringing forth the first edition of the series of school readers now known as McGuffey's Readers. For it was at their request, and in accordance with their general plan as to size and number, that William H. McGuffey, then the President of Cincinnati College, was contracted to produce this first edition of the Readers.

That edition, issued in 1836/37, consisted of four books which were designed not only to teach the young students how to read, but in the Third and Fourth numbers of the series, to provide suitably moral and instructive reading examples.

As if to prefigure our own modern times, this initial publishing venture was soon involved in court litigation brought by a Boston firm which claimed that certain of the selections in the 1836-37 version violated their copyright holdings. In fact, in December of 1838, an injunction was issued against Truman & Smith prohibiting them from further distribution of the materials pending trial on the charges. But by then, the publishers had combed the books and removed all material which could be even unreasonably suspect of offending the copyright statutes and brought forth a new edition - that of 1838 - suitably labeled "improved and expanded".

The remainder of the suit, dealing with the prior distribution of the original 1836-37 version, was dismissed upon payment of a sum of money to the plaintiffs, although the publishing firm continued to assert that the disputed material was "common property". This is, of course, not an unknown practice. As for the legal truth of the situation, it is not possible any more to ascertain since there are no extant copies of the readers which were allegedly infringed upon.

A few years after this unfortunate incident, Alexander H. McGuffey, the younger brother of the author of the 4 Readers, produced the Rhetorical Guide which was to be used alongside the Readers as a continuation of the series. When, in 1843, the first four Readers were revised and reissued as "Newly Revised", the Rhetorical Guide was the next year issued as the Fifth Reader of the series. Then, in 1853, the entire series was reordered and issued as a 6 volume set, labled the New McGuffey Readers.

Contents and description of the 1879 Revised Edition

Second Eclectic Reader

two-syllable limit

Fifth Eclectic Reader

The Fifth Reader in the series starts off with an Introductory section wherein is considered various matters relating to the reading of literature, including articulation, inflections, accent, emphasis, modulation, and poetic pauses. Various Rules are given concerning these subjects, with examples given. The whole is followed by a section of Exercises illustrating the Rules and providing practice therein.

Next comes the reading passages themselves, which number to a total of one hundred seventeen. Included are selections from Louisa May Alcott, William Ellery Channing, James Fenimore Cooper, Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Washington Irving, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, William Shakespeare, Robert Southey, John Greenleaf Whittier, and, of coure, the Bible, with sometimes several selections from each.

A is for Axe: the continued use of the McGuffey Readers

In colonial America, the basic function of education was considered to prepare the young students for life as good Christians. This approach had its origins during the Reformation when literacy was promoted as a means of enabling people to read the Bible. Following the Revolution, a gradual change occurred, in which it was considered increasingly important that the citizen's of the newly free Republic, based on the voting franchise, be prepared for participation as a self-governmening people.

At the same time, an effort was made, most notably by Noah Webster, with his Dictionary of the English Language" and his Elementary Spelling Book, to create a lexicon and instructional material uniquely American in tone.