an employee. Mr. Wilson was born in Bingham, Maine, in 1826, and earned
his first money as an axman in the pine forests which were in that day
near his native town. He obtained, in the common schools, sufficient
education to become a teacher and he never ceased to be a student, thus
acquiring a broad acquaintance with English literature. He taught in the
schools of Cincinnati when he first went West. There his abilities soon
attracted the attention of Mr. Smith, who employed him. For some years
he traveled as an agent, chiefly in Indiana and Wisconsin, introducing
the books of the Eclectic Series. He gradually became Mr. Smith's
trusted assistant, particularly in the direction of the work of agents
and in the selection of new books, and their adaptation to the demands
of the field. He married Miss Amanda Landrum, who was also a skilled
teacher in the Cincinnati schools. Mrs. Wilson was responsible for a
revision of the McGuffey First Reader made in 1863. She also at that
time corrected the plates of the higher numbers of the series. For many
years thereafter Mr. Wilson was the chief authority for Mr. Smith and
his successors in literary matters, and few men excelled him in breadth
of reading and in discriminating taste.
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.
[Eastern Publishers]
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.
[New Firm Formed]
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.
[Southern Reprint]
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.
[Wilson, Hinkle & Co.]
In 1866 the special interests were closed out, and Mr. Lewis Van Antwerp
was admitted as a partner. On April 20, 1868, the firm of Sargent,
Wilson & Hinkle was dissolved. Mr. Sargent retired and the new firm,
Wilson, Hinkle & Co., bought all the assets. At this date Mr. Robert
Quincy Beer became a partner. Mr. Beer had long been a trusted and
successful agent and he was put in charge of the agency department.
Under this partnership the business gradually became systematized in
departments. One partner had in charge the reading of manuscripts and
the placing of accepted works in book form, one had charge of the
manufacture of books from plates provided by the first, and one of
finding a market for the books. At the first organization of the firm of
Wilson, Hinkle & Co., Mr. Wilson was the literary manager as well as the
director of agency work. Mr. Hinkle was the manufacturer, having control
of the printing and binding, and Mr. Van Antwerp had charge of the
accounts. Mr. Beer was brought in to relieve Mr. Wilson in the direction
of agents. But Mr. Beer died suddenly, January 3, 1870, and the
surviving partners soon sought for another competent and experienced man
to take his place.
[Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co.]
Mr. Caleb S. Bragg had for years acted as the agent for a list of books
selected by him from the publications of two or three publishers and was
a partner in the firm of Ingham & Bragg, booksellers of Cleveland, Ohio.
Mr. Bragg sold his interest in the business in Cleveland and became a
partner in Wilson, Hinkle & Co., on April 20, 1871; and at the same
time Henry H. Vail and Robert F. Leaman, who had for some years been
employees, were each given an interest in the profits although not
admitted as full partners until three years later. Mr. Hinkle's eldest
son, A. Howard Hinkle, was brought up in the business, and the contract
for 1874 provided that he should be admitted as a partner, with his
father's interest and in his place, when that contract expired in 1877.
The contract of 1874 was preparatory to the voluntary retirement of both
Mr. Wilson and Mr. Hinkle. Consequently, on April 20, 1877, the firm of
Wilson, Hinkle & Co. was dissolved and the business was purchased by the
new firm. Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co., of which Lewis Van Antwerp, Caleb S.
Bragg, Henry H. Vail, Robert F. Leaman, A. Howard Hinkle, and Harry T.
Ambrose were the partners. This firm continued unchanged until January
1, 1892, except for the untimely death of Mr. Leaman on December 12,
1887, and the retirement of Mr. Van Antwerp, January 2, 1890, just
previous to the sale of the copyrights and plates owned by the firm to
the American Book Company.
This sale, completed May 15, 1890, did not then include the printing
office and bindery belonging to the firm. These were used by the firm of
Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co. until January 1, 1892, in manufacturing books
ordered by the American Book Company. The American Book Company became,
on May 15, 1890, the owners, by purchase, of all the copyrights and
plates formerly owned by Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co. The four active
partners in that firm, each of whom had then been in the schoolbook
business some twenty-five or thirty years, entered the employ of the
American Book Company. Mr. Bragg and Mr. Hinkle remained in charge of
the Cincinnati business, Mr. Vail and Mr. Ambrose went to New York; the
former as editor in chief, the latter was at first treasurer, but later
became the president.
[A Vigorous Firm]
Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co. issued many new and successful books and remade
many, including the McGuffey Readers and Speller, Ray's Arithmetics and
Harvey's Grammars. Most of these met with acceptance and this was so
full and universal throughout the central West as to give opportunity to
the competing agents of other houses to honor Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co.
with such titles as "Octopus" and "Monopoly," names that were used
before "Trusts" were invented. They also called the firm in chosen
companies, "Van Anteup, Grabb & Co." These were mere playful or humorous
titles in recognition of the fact that this firm had, by its industry,
skill and energy, captured a larger share of the patronage of the people
than was agreeable to its competitors, and they, in despair of success
by fair means, resorted to the old-fashioned method of calling their
antagonist bad names. The best books, if pressed vigorously and
intelligently, were sure to win in the end, and the people who used the
books cared little what name appeared at the foot of the title-page.
In all important book contests the firm that holds possession of the
field is much in the situation of the tallest man in a Kilkenny Fair.
His head sticks up above the crowd and therefore gets the most knocks.
[Revisers and Editors]
The latest revision of the McGuffey Readers, five books, was prepared
and published by the American Book Company in 1901, under the same
general direction as the revision of 1878; but the actual work was done
by Dr. James Baldwin who was the author of the Harper Readers and of
Baldwin's Readers. Even in this latest edition there are in the higher
books many selections that appeared in the earliest. Care was taken to
maintain the high moral tone that so clearly marked Dr. McGuffey's work
and to bring in from later literature some valuable new material to
displace that which had proved less interesting and less instructive.
These books acquired at once a large sale, and the sales of the previous
editions are still remunerative.
Of the men connected with these successive owners of these copyrights it
seems proper to name those who directed the revisions which took place.
It is evident that none were undertaken without long and anxious
discussions as to the need of revision and of its nature. In such
decisions all partners would take part; but finally the actual direction
must come into the hands of some one partner whose experience and
qualification best fitted him for literary work.
As has been seen, Mr. Winthrop B. Smith was for a few years, while the
business was still in its infancy, the sole owner and the manager of
every part of his business. Mr. Pinneo contributed aid from 1843 to
1856; but even before his work was finished Mr. O.J. Wilson's skill
became recognized and his mind was dominant in literary matters so long
as he remained a partner--until 1877. But in the meantime he had
carefully trained a successor in the editorial work, and from 1877 until
1907 the responsibility fell upon him.
[New Competitors]
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.
[The Revision of 1878]
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.
[Preparations for a Fight]
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.
[Success Attained]
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.
[Other Competitors]
At no time in the history of these readers have they been without
formidable competition. Pickett's Readers were published in Cincinnati
as early as 1832. Albert Pickett was at one time president of the
College of Teachers and his books were published by John W. Pickett, who
was probably his brother. Later some additional books were prepared by
John W. Pickett, M.D., LL.D., and published by U.P. James in 1841, and
by J. Earnst in 1845. These readers were vigorously pushed into the
market for several years, but in the end were unsuccessful.
The Goodrich Readers published by Morton & Griswold in Louisville, Ky.,
were perhaps the most constant competitors with the McGuffey Readers in
the early years throughout the states of the Mississippi Valley. These
were prepared by S.G. Goodrich, the author of the then popular "Peter
Parley Tales." The readers were originally published in Boston and
some copies bear the imprint of Otis, Broaders & Co. They were first
copyrighted in 1839 and were frequently revised. They finally became the
property of the Louisville publisher. Mr. Smith and Mr. Morton kept up a
most vigorous schoolbook war, especially in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky
in the years from 1845 to 1860. Cobb's Readers, copyrighted in 1845,
were published for some time in Cincinnati by B. Davenport. These were
once widely introduced but soon went out of use.
It was very much the custom in those early days, before the railroads
made transportation quick and cheap for Eastern publishers to furnish a
set of plates to some enterprising bookseller in the West or to print an
edition for him with his imprint.
Ebenezer Porter's Rhetorical Reader copyrighted in 1835 was sold largely
in the western market by William H. Moore, of Cincinnati, and in 1848
the books bore his imprint. Thus there was ample competition for the
market even at this early date. The Pickett Readers, Cobb Readers,
Goodrich Readers, and even the excellent Rhetorical Reader of Ebenezer
Porter were all swept out of the schools by the superior qualities of
the McGuffey Readers and the persistent energies of their publishers.
[Humorous Advertising]
In these books the publishers found space for a little advertising of
their wares. In Pickett's Readers there is printed conspicuously at the
top of a page a warm commendation of Pickett's Readers, written in 1835
by William H. McGuffey, Professor at Miami University, in which he
"considers them superior to any other works I have seen." That was
before he made his own readers. Mr. Smith responded by publishing a
strong commendation of one of his books signed by Mr. Albert Pickett.
Life is seldom devoid of the lesser amenities.
The Willson Readers, published by the Harper Brothers, were vigorously
pushed into the schools of Ohio and Indiana about 1867. The first supply
was usually sold to the school authorities by agents who operated on the
commission plan. Thus the agents had an interest in the introduction
sales, but cared nothing about the continuance of sales in after years.
Booksellers, meanwhile, kept the McGuffey Readers in stock, and whenever
new readers were desired these were easily obtained. In a few years the
Willson Readers were out of the schools. Of course, there was no lack of
traveling agents and of circulars which freely criticised these Willson
Readers, which were constructed to teach not only reading but science.
After a short time the children wearied of reading about bugs and
beetles they had never seen and gladly welcomed the books that had a
single aim.
[Enduring Qualities]
In the eyes of a publisher a good schoolbook is one that can be readily
introduced and one that will stay when it is put in use. The officials
who adopt a schoolbook are not the users of the book. They are adults
long past the school age. Cases have been known when in important
adoptions the majority of the adopting board had not seen the inside of
a school room for twenty-five years. Of course such men are far behind
the schools. They are governed by their own past experience. When the
teachers are allowed to have a voice in the way of advice, the real
needs of the pupils obtain more consideration. But the final real judge
of the merits of a schoolbook is the boy or girl who uses it. If the
book is truly pedagogical, adjusted in every part to the average mental
development of the child, it becomes a valuable tool in the school room.
If on the other hand it is a mere collection of novelties such as catch
the eye of inexpert judges and impress merely the imagination, the books
may be introduced; but they won't stay.
[Child Nature]
The McGuffey Readers had staying qualities. Teachers often became so
familiar with their contents that they needed no book in their hands
to correct the work, but to each child the contents of the book were
new and fresh. It is the fashion of the present day to exalt the new
at the expense of the old. But the child of today is very much such
as Socrates and Plato studied in Greece. The development of the human
mind may be more generally understood than it was then; but it may be
doubted whether the mass of teachers are today wiser in the results of
child-study than were the philosophers of ancient days. Child nature
remains the same. At a given stage in his upward progress, he is
interested in much the same things. He is led to think for himself
in much the same way, and the whole end and aim of education is
to lead toward self activity. The readers that deal simply with
facts--information readers--may lodge in the minds of children some
scraps of encyclopedic information which may in future life become
useful. But the readers that rouse the moral sentiments, that touch the
imagination, that elevate and establish character by selections chosen
from the wisest writers in English in all the centuries that have passed
since our language assumed a comparatively fixed literary form, have a
much more valuable function to perform. Character is more valuable than
knowledge and a taste for pure and ennobling literature is a safeguard
for the young that cannot be safely ignored.
The success of the McGuffey Readers was due primarily to their
adaptation to the general demand of the schools and secondarily to the
energy and skill of their publishers.
[Moral Teaching]
The books in their first form were strongly religious in their teaching
without being denominational. If a selection taught a moral lesson this
was stated in formal words at the close. The pill was not sugared. Thus
at the close of a lesson narrating the results of disobedience, the
three little girls assembled and "they were talking how happy it made
them to keep the Fifth Commandment." There was in the books much direct
teaching of moral principles, with "thou shalt" and "thou shalt not."
In the later revisions this gradually disappeared. The moral teaching
was less direct but more effective. The pupil was left to make his own
deduction and the formal "haec fabula docet" was omitted. The author
and the publishers were fully justified in their firm belief that the
American people are a moral people and that they have a strong desire
that their children be taught to become brave, patriotic, honest,
self-reliant, temperate, and virtuous citizens.
In some of these books the retail price is printed. In 1844 the retail
price of the First Reader was twelve and a half cents. It contained 108
pages. In the same year, the Second Reader of 216 pages was priced at 25
cents. The Fourth Reader cost 75 cents, and contained 336 pages.
These prices were in a market when the day's wage of a laboring man was
only fifty cents. Relatively to the cost of other articles, schoolbooks
were not nearly so cheap as they are now.
[Copyright Files]