Pierpont, John. Pierpont's Second Reader. The Young Reader; to go with the Spelling Book. New York: George F. Cooledge, 323 Pearl St., &c., c. 1845. Twentieth Edition. [12405]
Leather spine with printed green paper over card, scuffed and worn yet intact with good joints, 6 x 3 7/8 inches. Advert for "The Little Learner" on ffep, repeated on back cover. 162 pp., illustrated with woodcuts, full woodcut frontispiece. Lacks the final free end papers (blanks). Old ink signatures, scribbles, foxing. The text is counted and complete. Illustrated with many woodcuts. Good. Hardcover.
Copyright date of 1835, with the Preface dated 1830. Our estimate of 1845 is based upon the publisher's address, to which he moved in 1843 (WorldCat entry).
"Some wood engravings signed, 'H' (i.e., Alonzo Hartwell), including frontispiece of a male school teacher conducting a class of little boys and girls." - WorldCat.
Eighty-five reading lessons based on texts promoting Christian virtue that are drawn from nature, farm and home life, and from fables.
John Pierpont (1785-1866), b. at Litchfield, Ct; graduated at Yale College, 1804; tutor in the family of Col. William Allston, of South Carolina, 1805-9; commenced the practice of law in Newburyport, 1812; was for some time a merchant in Boston, and subsequently in Baltimore; in 1816 entered the theological school of Harvard University, and in 1819 was ordained pastor of the Hollis Street Church, where he remained for 19 years, when a difference in opinion with some members of his congregation resulted in his resignation. He resided in Boston until 1845, when he was called to the Unitarian Church in Troy, New York, and in 1849 he accepted the pastoral charge of a church in Medford, Mass. He was a prolific writer and contributor to various publications. In 1861 he was Chaplain of the 22nd Massachusetts infantry.
"During his tenure [at Hollis Street Church], Pierpont was instrumental in establishing Boston's English Classical School in 1821, and gained national recognition as an educator. He published 2 of the better-known early school readers in the United States, The American First Class Book (1823) and The National Reader (1827)." - Penny's Poetry Pages Wiki.
