1870 printing of the 1870 copyrighted text. The author is credited as the author of books on logic, discourse, composition, and literature. The book is based on Day's rhetoric that argues thought is the starting point for teaching rhetoric, composition, and grammar rather than style and form. The text is aimed at students of different levels, using various font sizes for each: the larger fonts for the young, smallest for older or more advanced. The introductory lessons cover parts of speech. These are followed by sections on concrete nouns (object lessons), attributes, distinctions of nouns, modifying elements, abnormal forms, construction, and explanation. Oral and written exercises are included throughout. The Schultz Archive's copy is roughly the complete text.
1899 printing of 1899 copyrighted text. The author is credited as the author of Beginners' Readers I, II, III and Vivid Scenes in American History. The text is a teacher's manual to accompany Letters From Queer Folk, a composition book aimed at enhancing student learning by drafting correspondence with imagined people. The text covers various genres of writing such as business, social, telegrams, advertisements, receipts. It addresses particular skills such as paragraphing, vocabulary, punctuation, and arrangement. The Schultz Archive copy is the entire text.
No edition or printing information is included on this copy. No author is credited, although Whitney, Jocelyn, and Annin are credited as illustrators. It includes basic information on composing, including advice on penmanship, titling, margins, paragraphs, spelling, capital letters, punctuation, arranging sentences, style (purity, precision, clearness, strength, harmony, unity), and modes (debates, letters). The majority of the text is a collection of ornate illustrations for the purpose of aiding composition development. Each illustration is accompanied with advice on how to elaborate on subjects within the illustration.