McGuffey Readers

Origins and Early Editions

The success of the McGuffey Readers could be credited as much to the astute business tactics of Cincinnati publisher Winthrop B. Smith as to the authors and compilers themselves. Smith observed the dominance New England publishers held over the growing textbook industry and determined the need for a graded series of readers marketed to the burgeoning West and to the South. He first sought the assistance of Harriet Beecher Stowe, who declined his offer but recommended her friend William Holmes McGuffey. A professor and Presbyterian preacher, McGuffey had already begun work on such a project. Smith contracted him to compile a primer, four readers, and a speller. His compensation would be 10% of the profits not to exceed $1,000. Though a great sum at the time, it was not representative of the vast proceeds publishers brought in and hardly compensated McGuffey for the impact his work had on the nation.

The first and second readers were published in 1836 with the third and fourth following within the year. McGuffey had compiled and written the material to be age appropriate. To establish which material best suited particular ages, he experimented with his own children and those in the community, teaching them in his home as well as outdoors, seated on logs. Incorporating the element of competition, he reserved the largest end of the log for students who recited their lessons most accurately. He documented the effect of the content on various age groups and made necessary adjustments before submitting the final work. Typical in many ways of other graded readers of the time, the primer began with the alphabet and phonetically taught single-syllable words. Not as successful as the series that followed it, the primer was pulled from publication shortly after it was introduced. The content of the first reader moved on to more difficult words and introduced simple sentences. The second reader progressed to multisyllabic words, and the stories grew more complex as the book progressed. Comparable to the level of junior high school material, the third and fourth readers taught thinking skills and included selections from authors such as Irving, Byron, Jefferson, and Shakespeare. Two particular characteristics made McGuffey's work distinct from other readers of the day. First, it included more illustrations than was common for schoolbooks at the time. Second, it was a complete language arts curriculum integrating spelling, speech, comprehension, and word studies.

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