Cheraw chronicle. [volume] (Cheraw, S.C.) 1896-2005, 1914-03-05
COLONIAL TEXT BOOKS WITH EN-
H!BITION OF OLD BOOKS.
Paper Prepared and Read by Miss
Mabel Mclynr ut Meeting Gf
Daughters of the Rev Oluti3n.

them besides the tools for the tlllage
of the soil, other things they deemed
essential to the new civilization which
thnv were to establish. Among their
other worldly goods they placed the
Psalter, Testament and Bible. and the
little books of their childhood from
which they had learned their letters
and their prayers: the Horn Book'
AB G. Primer, Book Of Civilite and
Spelling Book. Together these formed
the basis of religion and education IN
the colonies. But since the education
of the young was such, an important
matter, and since this same education
was SO largely a process OF learning
by heart something already in print
the problem of textbooks became a
very vital one to the schools. In
those early daye America was very
much isolated from Europe. Com
merce had not yet bound the two
shores of the Atlantic closely to-
eether, and, as was natural, books TO-
instruction were scarce. The few
which had been brousct over were
entirely inadequate % meet the school
demands, and the problem OF text
hooks bade fair to be serious one.
Not as today, the prohem of which GnP
to select from. a multiplicity, but how
to SCI any at all.
The problem solved itself eventually
by three gradual steps; First, by the
importation of English Text Books;
second, by reprinyng these same
books in American printing houses;
third, by compiling ani printing our,
own textS. Although a printing
press was set up in Cambridge as ear
ly as 1869 it did not solve this text
book problem for lore than loo
years, as it was whoUT engaged in
turning out pamphlets of a religious
nature, and the needs OF the elementa;-
~ SCEOOlS WSIS WV loohCu'
When the colonists lacked Primer
Spelling Book and a , c as tools o.
instruction they brougH; into use the
CatecEism, Psalter, Testament a1d'
Bible. AS they were q very devou'
people every family vas well sup
piled with these. So thoroughly es-
tabli1 did taese books become that
they gave their names - the various
divisions of pupils, and we find in
use such terms as ''psalter class,
Testament class" and Bible class.
While the primarily religious works
were The most !mDortant books OF in
struction during the earlier decades.
it must not be supposed that other
kinds of books went out of use entire
ly. The Horn Took vas w.dclT uFe3
for teaching tie letters. ard other e.
ementary Watter. This book was
seemingly a European device, first
used about 1850. 1t consisted OF q
hit of parchment with letters ana
other material for instruction paint
ed Or printed upon it. the parchment
being fast tened to slab OF wood, and
covered with a thin piece OF translu-
cent horn for protection. The whole
was made in form convenient to be
carried in the hand usually of bat
t!eao"e shape This book went
through many changes between the
17.h ard 18th centuries. The various
folding pas s'eboard books and even
the samplers of the colonial maid
We're undoubtedly it's descendants. A
little later we have the A B c, the
Primer and the Book of Manners.
America being very slow in printing
books we find importationS from Eu-
rope as he main media of instruc-
lion. Among the records of 100 OF
the elementary book; in use eighteen
were published in England and only
two in America. In 1851 there ap-
peared an elementary text book des-
tined to be one of the first and mos.
important of a long line of American
elementary text books-the New En-
gland Primer. published by Benjamin
Harris at the LondoH Coffee House
Boston. Its success was almos' start
ling; during The first l. years of its
lie 37.1C0 copies were sold. 1t is
un;h ..,rhnrn iC nnt nni 1hnrn nnNnl