1783-1815: Education: Publications

Caleb Bingham, The American Preceptor: Being a New Selection of lessons for reading and Speaking. Designed for the use of Schools (Boston: Printed by I. Thomas & E. T. Andrews for the author, 1794)—some 600, 000 copies of this book were sold; it went through fifty-five editions by 1818 and stayed in use until 1837;

Bingham, An Astronomical and Geographical Catechism for the Use of Children (Boston: Printed & sold by S. Hall, 1795)—this volume had sixteen editions by 1819;

Bingham, The Columbian Orator: Containing a Variety of Original and Selected Pieces; Together with Rules Calculated to Improve Youth and Others in the Ornamental and Useful Art of Eloquence (Boston: Printed by Manning & Loring, 1797)—one of the most influential textbooks of the period; Bingham’s selection of speeches, plays, and poetry trained a generation of Americans in the art of rhetoric and oratory;

Bingham, The Young Lady’s Accidence: or, A Short and Easy Introduction to the English Grammar. Designed, Principally, for the Use of Young Learners, More Especially Those of the Fair Sex, Though Proper for Either (Boston: Printed by Greenleaf & Freeman, 1785)—Bingham’s first textbook, written especially for the young women in his Boston school;

Robert Coram, Political Inquiries: to Which is Added, a Plan for the General Establishment of Schools Throughout the United States (Wilmington, Del.: Printed by Andrews & Brynberg, 1791)—Coram, a librarian, developed a plan for educating all American children;

Jacob Abbot Cummings, An Introduction to Ancient and Modern Geography (Boston: Cummings & Hilliard, 1813);

Jedidiah Morse, Geography Made Easy (New Haven, Conn.: Meigs, Bowen & Dana, 1784)—Morse, a clergyman, and father of telegraph pioneer Samuel F. B. Morse, wrote this influential text, which became the standard work of American geography;

Joseph Neef, The Method of Instructing Children Rationally, in the Arts of Writing and Reading (Philadelphia: Printed for the author, 1813);

Neef, Sketch of a Plan and Method of Education, Founded on the Analysis of the Human Faculties, and Natural Reason, Suitable for the Offspring of a Free People, and for All Rational Beings (Philadelphia: Printed for the author, 1808)—Neef opened the first American school using the teaching methods of Johann Pestalozzi;

Sarah Pierce, Sketches of Universal History Compiled from Several Authors for the Use of Schools, volume 1 (New Haven, Conn., 1811)—a history textbook prepared in the form of a catechism;

Nicholas Pike, A New and Complete System of Arithmetic, Composed for the Use of Citizens of the United States (Newburyport, Mass.: Printed & sold by J. Mycall, 1788)—the first American arithmetic textbook;

Benjamin Rush, Defense of the Use of the Bible as a Schoolbook, in a Letter from the Celebrated Doctor Rush to the Rev. J. Belknap (Concord, N.H., 1806);

Rush, A Plar, for the Establishment of Public Schools and the Diffusion of Knowledge in Pennsylvania; To which are Added Thoughts Upon the Mode of Education, Proper in a Republic (Philadelphia: Printed for Thomas Dobson, 1786);

Rush, Thoughts upon Female Education, Accommodated to the Present State of Society, Manners and Government in the United States of America (Philadelphia: Printed by Prichard & Hall, 1787);

Christian Gotthilf Salzmann, Elements of Morality, for the Use of Children; With an Introductory Address to Parents. Translated by Mary Wollstonecraft (Philadelphia: Printed by J. Hoff & H. Kammerer Jr., 1796)—a German text originally published in 1791;

Samuel Harrison Smith, Remarks on Education: Illustrating the Close Connection between Virtue and Wisdom (Philadelphia: Printed for John Ormrod, 1798)—Smith won first prize in an American Philosophical Society contest for this essay on education;

Noah Webster, A Compendius Dictionary of the English Language (New Haven: From Sidney’s Press, 1806)—Webster’s first attempt at a dictionary;

Webster, A Grammatical Institute, of the English Language, part I (Hartford, Conn.: Printed by Hudson & Goodwin for the author, 1783)—the famous “blue-backed speller,” from which generations of Americans learned spelling and grammar;

Webster, A Grammatical Institute of the English Language, part II (Hartford, Conn.: Printed by Hudson & Goodwin for the author, 1784)—a continuation of part I, more of a grammar book than a speller.