by William McGuffey (Author)
McGuffey's Eclectic Spelling Book includes a pictorial alphabet plus 248 individual lessons on spelling, grammar, pronunciation, abbreviation, usage and more. This 1879 revised edition conforms to Webster's International Dictionary, and associates each lesson with some principle of sound, meaning, or accent. The McGuffey Readers are among the best known schoolbooks in the history of American education, having sold more than 120 million copies since the time of their first publication in 1836.
Author Biography
William McGuffey (1800-1873), American educator, author, and Presbyterian minister is best known for creating the McGuffey Readers, the first widely used textbooks in the U.S. William McGuffey, who had a lifelong interest in teaching children, compiled the first four readers beginning in 1836, while his brother Alexander created the fifth and sixth readers in the 1840s. In 1879, the readers were revised to better portray America as a melting pot of moralities and middle-class values. The McGuffey Readers have been popular for more than 150 years, have sold more than 120 million copies since 1836, and are still in use today.