Webster, Noah. An American Selection, of Lessons in Reading and Speaking, calculated to Improve the Minds and Refine the Taste of Youth. To which are prefixed, Rules in Elocution, and Directions for expressing the Principal Passions of the Mind. Utica, [ New-York]: Printed by Asahel Seward, One door east of the Coffee House, Genesee Street, 1807. Second Edition. [12450]
Leather spine, plain blue paper over wooden boards, some loss of paper, top right corner of front with some chipping to the wood, paper tattered in that place. Joints are fine; the book is 6 3/4 x 4 1/4 inches. Lacks both front and back free end papers (blanks). Some worming to the first and last several leaves. [1]-52, 65-68, 57-226, [2 - table]. Apparantly a binding error that omits pp. 53-56 and repeats pp. 65-68. Two leaves lacking, two leaves repeated. The rear paste-down has the names Lovinia, Samuel, and Sally Burdick, with 1807 dates. Fair. Hardcover.
No. 517 in Skeel, A Bibliography of the Writings of Noah Webster.
Much of the contents are distinctly American, such as Funeral of General Fraser, near Saratoga, related by general Burgoyne; Story of lady Harriet Ackland, by gen. Burgoyne; Adventures of General Putnam; General Washington's Resignation; Extract from Dr. Belknap's Address to the Inhabitants of New-Hampshire, from his history of that State; Story of Logan, a Mingo Chief; Description of the Falls of Niagara; Narrative of the Captivity of Mrs. Jemima Howe, taken by the Indians of Hinsdale, New-Hampshire, July 27, 1755; History of Pocohontas; Extract from the Oration of Thomas Dawes, esq. delivered at Boston, July 4, 1787; Extract from an Oration, delivered at Boston, March 5, 1772, by Dr. Joseph Warren; Extracts from an Oration, delivered at the North Church in Hartford, at the meeting of the Connecticut Society of the Cincinnati, July 4th, 1787, in commemoration of the Independence of the United States. By Joel Barlow, esq.; A Dialogue, written in the year 1776, by Mr. Andrus, of Yale College, since deceased.
Noah Webster (1748-1843), American lexicographer & educator. Best known today for his Dictionary, Webster was an ardent supporter of the American Revolution and of the beginnings of Federalism in the new United States. He saw education as a means for uniting the new nation, and was a tireless promoter of his new spelling & educational endeavors. He eventually became disillusioned with the development of the party system of politics and concentrated his efforts in the realm of education.
