1806. Small 16mo (104 x 82 mm), pp. 16, illustrations, one per letter, two per page for the body of the text, some offsetting of illustrations on the inside wrappers, occasional staining and dust-soiling in text but generally fairly clean, in the original printed wrappers, small worm hole on the front wrapper, darkened spine strip as printed, some dusting and small water-stains, vignette illustrations to front and rear wrappers. A charming illustrated American primer, first published in 1806, consisting of alphabets in different types, vowels and consonants, letter formations and spelling and syllable exercises. In this edition, the illustrated wrappers depict a horse standing in front of a grove of trees on the front wrapper (differing from that illustrated by Gumuchian) and a ruined castle on the rear wrapper, while the title page bears an attractive vignette of a woman with a dove and lamb. The full alphabet in large type is given on the verso of the title, while p. 3 gives a selection of alphabets and letters in different types, including double letters and numbers. The text proper begins on p. 4 and is presented in multiple columns. The top of each page is divided into two columns, with each column dedicated to one letter: starting with the letter at the top, beneath which is an illustration and then the word describing that illustration, ie. X, [portrait], Xerxes and X, [illustration], Zebra. Beneath this section, the columns vary in number according to the length of syllables or words given below. These are presented in simple lists, the first pages giving simple letter ties, ‘ba’, ‘re’, ‘py’ and so on, forming six columns. These get more complex through the primer until the final page has only three columns, listing longer words with divided syllables such as ‘Ac tor’, ‘Quar rel’, ‘Gar ter’ and ‘Yon der’.

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