1894 printing of the 1893 copyrighted text. The author is credited as Professor of Rhetoric in Amherst College and as the author of two other texts on rhetoric. The preface explains that the book is meant to provide the necessary rhetorical theory and to accompany every step with critical and constructive written exercises in a progressive and systematic order. The theory is given as a list of rules, each accompanied by a paragraph of explanation and illustrative examples (the rules are positive expressions of principle rather than a series of don'ts). The exercises are novel according to the author and are based in groups of rules rather than individual ones, and they include compositions (on familiar topics) to be rewritten and sentences to be amended in a creative, problem-solving manner rather than corrective. The appendix has a digest of rules and a glossary of words and forms. The book is organized into two parts. Part One is Mastery of Materials and includes chapters on choice of words, phraseology, and special objects in style. Part Two is Organization of Materials and includes chapters on the sentence, the paragraph, and the whole composition. The Schultz Archive copy is roughly the complete text.
1890 printing of the 1886 copyrighted text. The author is credited as Professor of Rhetoric in Amherst College. The book's preface emphasizes the practical, being those elements that may be applied to the construction of literature and can be taught. It must be taught as mechanism and through its effects in the concrete. The introduction further explains that rhetoric is adaptation, a science and an art, and that the text will deal with it in two main topics: style, which deals with the expression of discourse, and invention, which deals with the thought. The style section of the book has chapters on diction, figures of speech, and composition. The invention section has chapters on mental aptitudes and habits, general processes in the ordering of material, reproduction of the thought of others, invention deal with observed objects (description), invention dealing with events (narration), invention dealing with generalizations (exposition), invention dealing with truths (argumentation), and invention dealing with practical issues (persuasion). The introduction credits the influence of Campbell. The rules are accompanied with illustrative examples from notable writers. The Schultz Archive's copy is roughly the complete text. A few pages cut off the edges of the text.
