A History of the McGuffey Readers Part 4

Dr. Pinneo was the eldest son of the Rev. Bezaleel Pinneo, an early graduate of Dartmouth College, who was for more than half a century pastor of the First Congregational Church in Milford, Conn. Dr. Pinneo was born at Milford in February, 1804. His mother was a woman of culture, Mary, only daughter of the Rev. Timothy Stone of Lebanon, Conn., a graduate of Yale College. Dr. Pinneo graduated at Yale in the cla.s.s of 1824. A severe illness in the winter after his graduation made it necessary for him to spend his winters in the South until his health was sufficiently restored to enable him to pursue the study of medicine.

He taught for a time in the Charlotte Hall Inst.i.tute, Maryland, and then removed to Ohio. He acted one year as professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in Marietta College. He studied medicine in Cincinnati and received the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the Ohio Medical College in 1843. On June 1, 1848, he married Jeanette Linsley, daughter of Rev. Dr. Joel H. Linsley, at one time president of Marietta College. Dr. Pinneo was for eighteen years a resident in Cincinnati. In 1862 he went to Greenwich, Conn., where he was occupied in literary work and in the conduct of a boys' boarding school. In 1885, after his wife's death, he removed to Norwalk, Conn., where he died August 2, 1893. Two daughters and a son survived him. Dr. Pinneo contributed materially to the revisions of McGuffey's Readers made in 1843 and in 1853; but both these revisions pa.s.sed through the hands of Dr. McGuffey, then at the University of Virginia, and were approved by him. It does not appear that Dr. Pinneo exercised any personal authority over the readers. He was employed, for moderate amounts, to prepare revisions which were satisfactory to both publisher and author. In the revision of 1843, his work was confined to the Third and Fourth readers. The First and Second readers were remade by Daniel G. Mason, then a teacher in the schools of Cincinnati. In the revision of 1853 the entire series pa.s.sed through Dr.

Pinneo's hands. He probably corrected the proof sheets. Dr. Pinneo's latest work on the McGuffey Readers was done in 1856.

After leaving Cincinnati, Dr. Pinneo prepared, and Mr. Smith published, a series of grammars--the a.n.a.lytical, issued in 1850, and the Primary, in 1854. He was also the author of a High School Reader and of Hemans's Young Ladies' Readers. These books had for some years a considerable sale.

[Obed J. Wilson]

As early as 1853 Mr. Obed J. Wilson was in the office of Mr. Smith as 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 a.s.sistant, 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 companions.h.i.+p 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 const.i.tuted 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 t.i.tle 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 a.s.sets 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, furnis.h.i.+ng 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 a.s.sets. 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 partners.h.i.+p the business gradually became systematized in departments. One partner had in charge the reading of ma.n.u.scripts 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 t.i.tles 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 t.i.tles 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 compet.i.tors, and they, in despair of success by fair means, resorted to the old-fas.h.i.+oned 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 t.i.tle-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 Compet.i.tors]

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 pus.h.i.+ng 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, ill.u.s.trated with carefully prepared engravings, well printed and well bound, became at once formidable compet.i.tors 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 compet.i.tion.

[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 t.i.tle 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 a.s.sistants a.s.sembled 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 ma.n.u.scripts a.s.sumed approximate form. The opening of the schools called the a.s.sistants back to their homes and the editor of the firm shaped the ma.n.u.scripts for the text and procured the necessary ill.u.s.trations. 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 compet.i.tion 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 compet.i.tors.