Title: McGuffey's Eclectic Readers Eight Book Set - Primer Through Sixth plus Spelling Book- Revised Editions
Format: Clothbound Hardcovers
Author: William Holmes McGuffey
Illustrator: none listed
Publisher: American Book Company
Year: These range from undated editions to copyrights in 1920 & 1921
Length: various
Dimensions: 5" wide by 7.5" tall
Condition: Cover and spine wear noted especially around the edges. There is a name written in ink on the inside cover of all but The Third Eclectic Reader. No other writing noted. No torn or missing pages noted. All editions are tightly bound. There is aging to most of the inside cover papers. The spines of several editions are embossed. There is some damage on the cover of the Primer book as shown in the photos.
Winthrop Smith, a partner at the publishing firm of Truman and Smith hired highly respected Presbyterian minister, William Holmes McGuffey to prepare a reader. His reader was considered a "cut and paste" project derived from texts in earlier books. It was well-done but without much originality. You will find almost all McGuffey Readers to be revised readers due to an out of court settlement between Truman and Smith Publishers and a rival publisher in Boston. It is estimated well over 125 million copies of the McGuffey Readers were sold in the United States over the years. ~ taken from A History of Children's Books in 100 Books written by Roderick Cave and Sara Ayad.
