A History of the McGuffey Readers

by Henry Hobart Vail

The story of the revisions of 1843 and 1853 has been told. The books were apparently in satisfactory use in a large part of the West; but about 1874 the firm thought it wise to exploit a new series. At its request Mr. Thomas W. Harvey prepared a series consisting of five books. This series was published in 1875; but the experience of a few years with the Harvey Readers showed that the people still preferred the McGuffey Readers and after long discussion and hesitation it was agreed that these should again be revised. This determination was hastened by the publication of the Appleton Readers in 1877, and by the incoming of a number of skilled agents pushing these books in the field that had for many years been held so strongly for the McGuffey Readers as to baffle the best endeavors of two or three Eastern publishers who had tested the market.

The Appleton Readers were prepared by Mr. Andrew J. Rickoff, then superintendent of the Cleveland schools; Mr. William T. Harris, then superintendent of the St. Louis schools, and Professor Mark Bailey of Yale College. They were largely aided in the lower readers by Mrs. Rickoff. These books, with this array of scholarly and well-known authors, illustrated with carefully prepared engravings, well printed and well bound, became at once formidable competitors for patronage and went into use in many places where the McGuffey Readers had served at least two generations of pupils. The Harvey Readers stood no chance in this competition.

On April 9, 1878, the firm of Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co. determined upon making a new series of readers bearing the well-recognized title of McGuffey's Eclectic Readers and distinguished as a "Revised Edition." Some details of the plan as presented by the partner having literary matters in charge were agreed to. The method of teaching in the first reader was to be adjusted to a phonic-word method, and the gradation was to be improved. The selections of the older books were to be retained except where they could be improved.

In accordance with this resolution the editor invited four persons to aid, during the summer, in this work. These were Thomas W. Harvey of Painesville, Ohio; Robert W. Stevenson, of Columbus; Edwin C. Hewett, of Bloomington, Ill.; and Miss Amanda Funnelle, of Terre Haute, Indiana. Each was a teacher of wide experience.

To these assistants assembled in Cincinnati the plan of revision was fully explained and the work was alloted. Miss Funnelle and Mr. Stevenson took charge of the first three readers, Mr. Harvey and Dr. Hewett of the three higher books. All were perfectly familiar with the old books and in a few days substantial agreement was reached as to the changes needed. By two months of constant and intelligent labor the manuscripts assumed approximate form. The opening of the schools called the assistants back to their homes and the editor of the firm shaped the manuscripts for the text and procured the necessary illustrations. These were made, regardless of cost, by the best artists and engravers to be found in the country. When the plates were finished, the publishers printed several hundred copies of each of the three smaller books and distributed them as proofs to selected teachers in many states, asking them for criticisms and suggestions. The answers made were of great value. The First Reader was entirely re-written by the editor and the plates of other readers were made more perfect. In this revision the three lower books were almost entirely new. The Fourth was largely new matter, while in the Fifth and Sixth such matter as could not be improved from the entire field of literature, was retained. The Fifth and Sixth readers furnished brief biographies of each author and contained notes explanatory of the text. These were new features and they proved valuable at that date.

As soon as these books were completed, large editions were printed and they were most vigorously exploited not only to take the place of the older edition of McGuffey Readers, but to supplant the newly introduced Appleton Readers.

This book-fight was a long and bitter one. Every device known to the agency managers of the houses engaged was employed. Even exchanges of books became common. It was war; and like every war was carried on for victory and not for profit. It is perhaps fortunate that such contests cannot in the nature of things last long. In the long run business must show a profit or fail. Contrary to popular opinion, a book war is not profitable in itself; but it is a form of competition that has existed for fully a century. It presents no novelties even now.

The two chief combatants at length withdrew with one accord. Neither firm could claim entire victory; but the McGuffey readers came through with much the larger sales and these increased for years. By this contest the firm of Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co. won a reputation as fighters that protected them in after years from ill-considered attacks by its competitors.

The revised edition of the McGuffey Readers, having no author's name on the title page, designed and compiled under the direction of the publishers, but retaining the moral excellences and literary qualities that had been affixed to the series from its origin, attained the largest sales that have as yet been accorded by the public to a single series of books. Of the Sixth Reader, which must have the least sale, over a million copies have been distributed, as shown by the edition number. Of the First Reader more than eight million copies have been used.