A History of the McGuffey Readers

by Henry Hobart Vail

Mr. Wilson lives in his home near Cincinnati which is filled with the choice books which he has read and studied so faithfully, and he still has the companionship of the wife who has been his constant helpmate for more than half a century.

Mr. Winthrop B. Smith was the sole proprietor of the McGuffey Readers and his other publications from 1841 until about 1852. He then admitted as partners, Edward Sargent and Daniel Bartow Sargent, his wife's brothers, and the firm name became W.B. Smith & Co.

While books could be manufactured in the West even in the early years cheaper than they could be delivered in the West from the better organized establishments in the older cities of the East, it was not possible to deliver books in New York from Cincinnati so cheaply as the books could be made in the East. The cost of transportation constituted a very considerable element in the price of schoolbooks. Mr. Smith therefore made an arrangement with Clark, Austin & Smith, of New York, to become the Eastern publishers of the McGuffey Readers and other books, and a duplicate set of plates was sent to New York. From these plates, editions of the readers were manufactured, largely at Claremont, N.H., bearing on the title page the imprint of Clark, Austin & Smith, New York.

The Smith of this firm was Cornelius Smith, a brother of Winthrop B. Smith. Cornelius Smith withdrew from this firm before 1861. In that year the war broke out, and this New York firm, which as booksellers and stationers had a large trade in the South, lost not only their custom in that section, but were unable to collect large amounts due them for goods. Clark, Austin, Maynard & Co. failed and Mr. W.B. Smith bought, in 1862, all their assets for the sum of $6,000, placed Mr. W.B. Thalheimer in charge of the business and resumed control of the duplicate plates of the McGuffey Readers.

From the location of Cincinnati on the Ohio river, then affording the cheapest means of distributing goods to all parts of the South, Mr. Smith had obtained, before 1860, a very considerable part of the schoolbook trade in the Southern states of the Mississippi Valley. The opening of the Civil War swept this trade away and left on the books of the firm in Cincinnati many accounts not then collectible. The continuance of the war and the constant fluctuations in the price of materials, due to the use of paper money, joined to advancing age and ill health, all combined to lead Mr. Smith to withdraw from business.

A new firm, Sargent, Wilson & Hinkle, was organized April 20, 1863, with Edward Sargent, Obed J. Wilson and Anthony H. Hinkle as general partners, and with W.B. Smith and D.B. Sargent as special partners.

These active partners had long been in this business, Mr. Sargent as a partner and bookkeeper, Mr. Wilson as literary editor of skill and judgment and also a forceful manager of agents, Mr. Hinkle as a thoroughly skilled binder and manufacturer.

Winthrop B. Smith and D.B. Sargent remained as special partners, furnishing capital but taking no part in the direction of the business.

The Confederate States, at the opening of the War, had within their limits no publisher of schoolbooks which had extensive sales. Nearly all of the schoolbooks used in the South were printed in the North. But there were printing offices and binderies in the South. The children continued to go to school, and the demand for schoolbooks soon became urgent. To meet this demand, a few new schoolbooks were made and copyrighted under the laws of the Confederacy; but others were reprints of Northern books such as were in general use. The Methodist Book Concern of Nashville, Tenn., reprinted the McGuffey Readers and supplied the region south and west of Nashville until the Federal line swept past that city. This action on the part of the Methodist Book Concern had the effect of preserving the market for these readers, so that as soon as any part of the South was strongly occupied by the Federal forces, orders came to the Cincinnati publishers for fresh supplies of the McGuffey Readers. This unexpected preservation of trade was of great benefit to the firm of Sargent, Wilson & Hinkle.