Title: McGuffey's Eclectic Readers Box Set - Primer Through Sixth - Revised Editions
Format: Clothbound Hardcover with Box Sleeve
Author: William Holmes McGuffey
Illustrator: none listed
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Year: The copyright page shows the original publishing dates - I would guess these were printed sometime in the last 10-15 years although there are no dates to confirm this.
Length: various
Dimensions: 5" wide by 7.5" tall
Condition: Minor cover and spine wear noted especially around the edges of the box sleeve. This set is in like-new condition - no writing, torn or missing pages noted. The spines of several editions are embossed.
Winthrop Smith, a partner at the publishing firm of Truman and Smith hired highly respected Presbyterian minister, William Holmes McGuffey to prepare a reader. His reader was considered a "cut and paste" project derived from texts in earlier books. It was well-done but without much originality. You will find almost all McGuffey Readers to be revised readers due to an out of court settlement between Truman and Smith Publishers and a rival publisher in Boston. It is estimated well over 125 million copies of the McGuffey Readers were sold in the United States over the years. ~ taken from A History of Children's Books in 100 Books written by Roderick Cave and Sara Ayad.
