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 < back to authors list Noah Webster:
He was known best for A Grammatical Institute. Actually the complete title was :A Grammatcak Instiute, of the English Language, Comprising, An easy, consise, and systematic Method of Education, Designed for the Use of English Schools in America. In Three Parts. Part I. Containing a new and accurate Standard of Pronunciation. No wonder people shortened the title to "Blue-Backed Speller," because of a blue cover in later editions. The book taught Americans the simple fundamentals: language, morals, economics and politics. The 119-page book contained much of the same content as other spellers on the market but had several distinguishing features. Among them:
With the exception of the Bible, the Speller sold more copies than any book in the world. The first edition of 5,000 copies sold out in nine months. At least 75 million copies were sold by 1875, when more than 1 million copies were sold each year. One hundred million copies were sold during the lifetime of the book. Webster's Speller should have made him rich. It was sold for 14 pence for a single copy or 10 shillings for a dozen. Instead of making a fortune, however, Webster was swindled by many printers. He sold rights to print the work and received lump sums instead of royalties. One publisher, Samuel Campbell, was given unlimited rights to sell the book in New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia for five years. Webster was paid $200. Campbell published 20,000 copies a year -- 100,000 copies in five years. Other printers lied about how many copies were sold, paying only a fraction of the royalties they made. Others printed copies without permission. Webster was the first author to gain copyright protection in America. Webster secured copyright for the Speller in 1783, for a term of 13 years. For the next 50 years he worked to improve laws to protect the rights of authors' works. He wanted copyright protection for his books because he said they would:
In writing his Speller, Webster also came up with a standard of pronunciation, now called standard usage. He devised a system of notation that applied a number to each distinct vowel sound. When placed above the proper letter in each word, it told the reader how the word should be pronounced. He hoped this method would "demolish those odious distinctions of provincial dialects which are objects of reciprocal ridicule in the United States." America is the only country that has a unified language. Like many teachers today who have published textbooks, Webster wrote the second part of his Institute series because he wasn't happy with the books on the market. Other books were translations of Latin grammar books, and Webster felt that these translations didn't reflect the way Americans really spoke. So in 1784, he published, at his own expense, A Grammatical Institute, of the English Language, in Three Parts: Part II, containing, A Plain and comprehensive Grammar, founded on the true Principles and Idioms of the Language; with an analytical Dissertation, in which the various uses of the auxiliary signs are unfolded and explained: And an Essay towards investigating the Rules of English Verse. The first English grammar based on American usage, the book:
The third book in Webster's Institute series determined the way students were taught reading for more than 50 years. The full title:A Grammatical Institute, of the English Language, in Three Parts: Part III. Containing, The necessary Rules of Reading and Speaking, and a variety of Essays, Dialogues, and declamatory Pieces, moral, political and entertaining; divided into Lessons, for the Use of Children. The 186-page book, Webster said, would "furnish common English schools with a variety of exercises for reading and speaking at small expense." The book began with four simple rules for reading and speaking, and brief hints for proper articulating, pausing, accenting and gesturing. It also included 31 pages of short prose and verse selections. Webster revised the Reader in 1787, adding another 186 pages and renaming it An American Selection of Lessons in Reading and Speaking. Calculated to improve the Minds and refine the Taste of Youth. And also to instruct them in Geography, History, and Politics of the United States. To which is prefixed, Rules in Elocution, and the Directions for expressing the principal Passions of the Mind. The revision included patriotic selections to fan enthusiasm for the government, which at the time was framing the Constitution. The Reader included four addresses of Congress, the Declaration of Independence and Washington's Farewell Orders to the Army and Circular Letter, as well as 50 pages of new material written by Webster. He also included histories of the discovery and settlement of North America and the Revolutionary War. It was the first time that a school book recorded the historical events that led to forming the United States. In 1786, he wrote The New England Primer,the first of three introductory pamphlets, designed to help kindergartners with spelling and grammar. The second two, The Little Reader's Assistant, and Rudiments of English Grammar, were published in 1790. The Little Reader's Assistant contained 22 short narratives on American life and history, including stories of Columbus, John Smith and Pocahontas and the first settlers of New England. It formed the basis for an emerging new genre: American literature. Before writing his first dictionary A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language in 1806, Webster studied lexicographers and mastered 12 languages. In an article he wrote in The Panoplist in 1807, he said: "The lexicographer's business is to search for truth, to proscribe error, and repress anomaly.... The compilers of dictionaries should not be 'dabblers in etymology,' as many of them have been, but men of deep research and accurate philological knowledge.... The lexicographer should not be misled by his habits, nor biased by the caprices of eminent men." In 1800, he began work on An American Dictionary of the English Language, published in 1828. After completing the book, Webster said: "When I had come to the last word, I was seized with a trembling which made it somewhat difficult to hold my pen steady for writing. The cause seems to have been the thought that I was so near the end of my labors. But I summoned the strength to finish the last word, and then walking about the included 70,000 words, all written by hand". The book included 12,000 new terms: names of objects, qualities, and actions specific to Americans and technical and scientific terms not in British dictionaries. The first edition sold only 2,500 copies at $20 per copy. The publisher went bankrupt. Because of the financial difficulties and also because of litigation Webster couldn't put out a new edition. At age 80, he mortgaged his house to put out a new edition in 1841. When he died in 1843, his heirs sold rights to the work to George and Charles Merriam. In 1847 they hired Webster's son-in-law, Professor Chauncey Goodrich, to edit a new edition. It sold for $6 a copy and was a success: The name Webster is now synonomous with dictionary. Webster also edited American Magazine, wrote several essays on American politics, served in the legislature of two states, actively supported moral reform organizations, and helped build the financial, social, political and intellectual foundations of schools and colleges, including Amhearst College, which he founded. Webster was a 1778 graduate of Yale College. He lived in Amhearst, Massachusetts, and New Haven, Connecticut, with his wife, Rebecca Greenleaf and their eight children. He died in 1843. — reported by Kim Pawlak, 1998 |
