1810 printing of the third edition, copyright roughly 1807. A New Classical Selection of Letters; Interspersed with Some Original Productions on Business, Duty, Friendship, Love, Marriage, etc. with Miscellaneous Piece, in Prose and Verse; Petitions on Various Subjects, Complimentary Cards, Forms in Law, and the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America. Schultz Archive copy includes TOC, introduction, and a few pages covering correspondence between children and adults.
1888 copyrighted text. The author is credited as the author of Good Manners. Preface states that letter writing has been declared a lost art and that this text contains models of letters for every occasion that would demand correspondence. Contents includes letters on broken business engagement, declining to recommend, inquiring about a house to rent, excusing a pupil's absence, request for loan of money, recommending a governess, from lady to clergyman asking reference, form of a will, courtship and marriage, friendship, condolence, requesting favors, regrets and apology, etc. The book also contains a short section on the art of letter writing and a list of rules. The Schultz Archive copy contains the preface, TOC, the first few pages on the art of letter writing and the rules, and a selection of pages related to correspondence concerning children.
PDF of a facsimile from a copy in the Yale University Library. Library of Congress number 75-112064. Title page states it was written in 1798 and 1799. The author is credited as an M.D. Title page also states it was printed for J. Johnson, St. Paul's Church-Yard. The copied chapter relates to the evaluation and production of "writing, or literary composition." Schultz Archive copy includes pages 50 – 75 (Letter IV: Perfection in Writing), 316 – 317. Highlighting partially or completely obscures some short passages of text.
1884 copyrighted text. A book on manners that strives to be familiar and conversational, with children doing a large part of the talking. Chapters cover manners: in general, at school, on the street, at home, toward the aged, at the table, in society, at church, at places of amusement, in stories and similar public places, in travelling (sic), and in borrowing. Each lesson includes an outline for teachers to write on the blackboard. The Schultz Archive copy contains most of the introduction, TOC, and a selection of pages, most of which are the outlines for the lessons. Some of the pages are difficult to read due to the quality of the copying.
1801 printing of the first American edition. Preface emphasizes Lord Chesterfield's approach to the refinement of taste; the epistolary style; and knowledge of life, men, and manner (appropriate for the gentleman, the scholar, and the man of education). Preface also states text has been revised and amended by Rev. Dr. Gregory to remove the parts which religion, virtue and morality would disapprove and to adapt it for schools and academies. Schultz Archive copy only includes the preface and first page of Letter sixty three: Of Style in Writing . . . Advantages of a good style . . . Examples of a bad Style . . . Cicero and Quintilian.
1801 printing. Contents include: absence of mind, attention, awkwardness of different kinds, bashfulness, company, rules for behavior in company, rules for conversation, economy, friendship, good breeding, and graces. Schultz Archive copy includes only pages 66 and 67 on letter writing from the chapter on graces.
1811 printing of a new edition corrected and enlarged. The Universal Letter-Writer; Or, Whole Art of Polite Correspondence: A Great Variety of Plain, Easy, Entertaining and Familiar Original Letters Adapted to Every Age and Situation in Life, but More Particularly on Business, Education, and Love: Together with Various Forms and Petitions, Suitable to the different Wants and Exigencies of Life; Proper Methods of Addressing Superiors and Persons of All Ranks Both In Writing and Discourse; and Valuable Hints for Grammatical Correctness on All Occasions. To which is added a Modern Collection of Genteel Complimentary Cards. Likewise, Useful form in Law, such as Wills, Bonds, etc. To which is subjoined an index, To enable the reader immediately to find out any particular Letter of Article wanted. For the youthful and uniformed mind. The Schultz Archive copy contains the preface, introduction, the index, and a few pages from the main body of the text.
1889 copyrighted text. The author is credited as Teacher of Rhetoric in the Richmond High Schools, Richmond, VA. A practical treatise on rhetoric for the lower grades of high school. Includes a discussion of simple, complex, and compound sentences, as students still need this review of grammar (in part because their grammar instruction has been analytical rather than synthetical). Lessons include a section of reproduction and a section of development. The Reproductions furnishes material for practice of the discussed principles. The Developments section is a more advanced step, giving play to the imagination by supplying the details of a connected story, while also serving as a test of style. Chapters cover kinds of sentences, paragraphing, variety of expression, style, figures of speech, special properties of style, paraphrasing, kinds of prose composition, prosody and versification, and poetry. The Schultz Archive copy includes the preface, TOC, a few scattered pages, and pages 309 – 335 on prose composition.
1874 printing of 1874 copyrighted text. Author is credited with a Master of Arts and as the author of several language texts. A manual for school work for students ages 12 to 15 made with reference to the recent remodeling of language-training in the public schools. Students are given exercise in actual composition at the same time they taught the details of rhetorical theory, based on the idea that pupils must be taught how to write at all, before they can be shown how to write well. The text is divided into five parts. Part one covers the construction and combination of sentences. Part two: the variation of arrangement, structure, and phraseology. Part three: simple composition exercises, including descriptive and narrative subjects. Part four: Style, including word choice, construction, figures of language, and analysis of style. Part five: practical composition of themes and essays. The preface credits the influence of English Prose Composition by James Currie, Cornwall's Young Composer, Dalgleish's English Composition, and Armstrong's English Composition. The Schultz Archive copy includes the preface, TOC, introduction, all of part three, pages 82 – 87 of part four, and all of part five.