Minnich, Harvey C. William Holmes McGuffey and His Readers. New York &c.: American Book Company, 1936. [12168]
Red leather spine decorated in blind & gilt, brown printed paper over card (hardcover), 9 x 6 inches, tight. 1950 gift inscription in black ink on the ffep. 203 pp., illustrations, text is unmarked, top margin corner with old stain on most pages. Good. Hardcover.
"So great have been the services of the McGuffey Readers that it seems most fitting that the full authentic information concerning their author and the books should be made available to the millions of American citizens who had through these readers their first introduction to the world's best literature and to a dependable moral and ethical code." - Foreword.
Chapters on the McGuffey's in Ohio; how the Readers began; supremacy of the Readers; the social teachings of McGuffey; &c. Includes a bibliographical list of editions for collectors.
William Holmes McGuffey (1800-1873), b. Washington Co., Pennsylvania; d. Charlottesville, Virginia. His family had emigrated from Scotland in 1774 and were known as strict Presbyterians. As a young man of 14 years of age McGuffey began teaching school in the frontiers of Ohio. He was from 1826 to 1836 a member of the teaching faculty of Miami University in Ohio, and in 1835 he began to issue his schoolbooks in the form of primers, a spelling book, and school readers.
"The readers were graded collections of didactic tales and excerpts from great books, reflecting McGuffey’s view that the proper education of young people required their introduction to a wide variety of topics and practical matters. They became standard texts in nearly all states, eclipsing all rival textbooks for half a century and reaching by 1925 a reputed total sale of more than 122 million copies." - Britannica online.
McGuffey was president of Cincinnati College (1836-39), and of Ohio University (1839-43). He founded the common school system of Ohio and in 1845 was elected to the chair of Mental and Moral Philosophy at the University of Virginia, a post he held until his death.
