From the Boston Atlas,
It is a compact family and school library of substantial reading, which is delightful in point of style, and wholesome in its moral, social, and religious tendency.
From the Boston Post,
We hardly know when we have been better pleased with a publication than this.
From Hunt's Merchant's Magazine,
This work, now complete, is the most elaborate of the works of the author for the young; and we think it quite the best. It is a library of facts, and seems intended to cultivate a taste for this kind of reading. It is said that "truth is stranger than fiction," and no one who has perused these pages can feel any necessity for seeking excitement in the high-wrought pages of romance. Every subject touched by the author seems invested with a lively interest; and even dry statistics are made, like steel beneath the strokes of the flint, to yield sparks calculated to kindle the mind. In treating of the iron manufacture,—a rather hard subject, it would seem,—we are told that, every "working day, fifty millions of nails are made, bought, sold, and used in the United States;" and, in speaking of the manufacture of cotton, we are informed that the Merrimack mills of Lowell alone "spin a thread of sufficient length to belt the world, at the equator, in two hours."
The work was doubtless intended for the young; and we think it quite equal, for this object, to any thing that has been produced; yet it is also suited to the perusal of all classes, especially to men of business, who find little leisure for reading, and who yet are unwilling to be left behind in the great march of knowledge and improvement. As there is now a strong desire, especially among the enlightened friends of education in this state, to have the common schools supplied with suitable books for libraries, we heartily commend this series to the notice of all who are desirous of obtaining books for this object. They are unquestionably among the best that have been prepared for school libraries, being every way attractive and instructive.
No one can fail to be pleased with the simplicity and elegance of the style, and with the vein of cheerfulness, humanity, and morality, which runs through the pages of the volumes. The moral influence of the work, especially upon the young, cannot fail to be in the highest degree effective and salutary.
From the Troy Whig,
They are written in an easy and graceful style, and are compiled from the most authentic sources. They will be found highly attractive to young people of both sexes, and worthy to be read by persons of mature age.