1834 printing of the 1834 copyrighted text. The author is credited as Mrs. John Farrar and is the author of Congo In Search of His Master and The Children's Robinson Crusoe. The text seeks to address the difficulty children have in writing letters (epistles) and to offer an alternative to another popular text, Complete Letter-Writer, which the author finds filled with absurdities and faults. The text offers general directions, simple criticism, and good examples in the form of a narrative about a young letter writer of fourteen. The work covers many topics, such as punctuation, paragraphs, folding letters, sample topics, and invitations. The Schultz Archive's copy is roughly the complete text.
1835 printing of the 1834 copyrighted text. The introduction explains the author has taught for ten years and sought to write a text for his own use that comported to his own methods of teaching grammar. He states his text recognizes most of the principles adopted by Murray, but differs in the mode and style of illustrating them. His style of language has been adapted to the juvenile mind and he uses a philosophical mode of parsing and correcting false syntax and orthography to exercise the understanding of the pupil. The text uses numerous questions in each section as a method of exercising students' understanding. The Schultz Archive's copy is roughly the complete text.
1848 printing of the 1848 copyrighted text. The author is credited as Principal of the Epes Grammar School in Salem, MA. A composition manual with blank pages for students to transcribe and preserve their compositions for the purposes of improving their taste, gaining knowledge of themselves, improving their thinking and writing, and providing evidence of their improvement. The book also provides a condensed presentation of rules, abbreviation, and common signs used in writing and printing. It also includes the meaning of foreign words and phrases. The Schultz Archive's copy only includes pages on writing and sending letters, and advice on composing taken from Blair (clearness, unity, strength, and harmony), plus a list of subjects for composing.
1853 printing of the 1853 copyrighted text. The author is a reverend and credited with a Master of Arts degree and as the author of two other books on grammar. The book aims to avoid the pitfalls of offering too little assistance to students or providing too much, while preparing them to undertake the discussion of a subject in a methodological and logical manner. Its first part covers sentence making with sections on the parts of a sentence, kinds of sentences, analysis of sentences, and the synthesis and composing of fables. The second part covers variety of expression, looking at arrangement, structure, word choice, synonyms, and colloquial and narrative forms. Part three covers description and figurative language and has sections on description, narrative, biography, history, epistolary, figures of speech, theme outlines, essay outlines, and declamation and oration. The fourth party covers punctuation and versification. The Schultz Archive's copy is roughly the complete text.
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.
1892 printing of the 1892 copyrighted text. The author is credited as the editor of The School Journal and Teachers' Institute and as the author of School Management. A brief teacher's manual that focuses on prompts and exercises for classroom instruction. Includes samples, explanations, structural guides, guiding questions, a list of subjects or themes, and suggestions for correcting compositions. The Schultz Archive's copy is roughly the complete text.
1893 printing of 1893 copyrighted text. Raymond is credited with a L.H.D., as Professor of Oratory and Aesthetic Criticism in the College of New Jersey at Princeton, and as the author of several texts. Wheeler is credited with a Litt.D. and as University Fellow in English 1891-2, and in Oratory and Aesthetic Criticism 1892-3, in the College of New Jersey. A textbook designed to combine elocution and rhetoric, as these are often taught together. Preface argues that as elocution is simpler, it can used as an aid to understanding rhetoric. The introduction discusses "Elocution and Rhetoric Correlated." The section on style covers effects corresponding to those of elocutionary time, to those of elocutionary pitch, to those of elocutionary force, and to those of elocutionary quality. The section on theme cover the selection, limitation, a division of subjects, and the treatment of subjects as determined by their aims and readers. The Schultz Archive copy contains the preface, TOC, the introduction, and pages 166 – 203, (the theme section and the index).
This excerpt of the third American edition (with additions and improvements) was published in 1819. The preface states its from the eight British edition. The author, Reverend David Blair, is credited for authoring several other books on grammar and juvenile letters. Blair's work, which only briefly discusses grammar from a broad, and colonial historical perspective, seeks to advance a scientific understanding of many subjects, including the English language. It is Blair's assertion that language instruction should build on and be part of a holistic education that enables the students to better understand all educational subjects. The Universal Preceptor includes chapters on various subjects, including the arts, mathematics, the sciences, government, agriculture, etc. The Schultz Archive only includes a brief excerpt (focusing on geography and grammar), and the scans are not very good quality (but they are legible).
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.
1862 copyrighted text. Lilienthal is credited as a doctor and Allyn is credited with a Master of Arts. The work is prepared by the order of the Cincinnati Public School Board. Things Taught is a "book of questions without direct answers" that "seeks to acquaint [students] with the world." Through object lessons, observation, and the creation of stories, students are presented a new means to observe the world around. The sections are development of ideas by observation, development of ideas by observation and reflection, stories to be written from memory, transformation of poetry into prose, stories to be made from elements and letters, description of natural bodies, themes for composition, business papers, advertisements, and invitations and certificates. The Schultz Archive's copy is roughly the complete text.
1872 copyrighted text. Published by the Journal of Education. The author is credited as Superintendent Public Schools, St. Louis. This text read at the National Teachers' Association, held at Cleveland, Aug. 19, 1870. Written in two chapters: Ch. I—Education in the Past; Ch. II—The Present and Future of Education. The text covers the history of printing, textbooks, circulation, and pedagogy. It includes sections on nature vs. human nature, the realm of mind, the function of education, Rousseau, Pestalozzi, oral vs. textbook instruction, and the spirit of the age. The Schultz Archive is roughly the complete text.
This "New and Improved Edition" was published in 1894 and copyrighted in 1892. The author is credited as Professor of Language and Literature in the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute and as the author of several other books. The text claims it is responding to teachers' need for work for pupils to do in illustration of what they have learned. The first section on invention covers sentence structure, forming paragraphs, analysis of subjects, and preparation of frameworks. The second section on qualities of style discusses perspicuity, imagery, energy, wit, pathos, and elegance. The third section on productions breaks up prose into oral (conversation, debates, sermons, etc.) and written (biographies, histories, fiction, letters, etc.). It also discusses poetry by focusing on mission, style, form, and kinds (satiric, epic, dramatic, etc.). Exercises include specific directions for altering or analyzing examples. Excerpts from the work of well known authors are used throughout. The Schultz Archive's copy is roughly the complete text.
1911 printing. The author is credited with a Ph.D., as Professor in the History of Education at Teachers College in Columbia University, and as the author of other books on the history of education. The Schultz Archive's copy only includes two complete chapters. Chapter Ten: The Naturalistic Tendency in Education: Rousseau; Chapter Eleven: Psychological Tendency in Education. There is also a selection from Chapter Twelve: Sociological Tendency in Education.
1896 printing of 1896 copyrighted work. Part of the International Education Series. The author is credited with both a Ph.D. and an LL.D., as Professor of the Science and the Art of Teaching in the University of Michigan, and as the author of several books of diverse subject matter. W. T. Harris writes the editor's preface: A collection of thoughts on language, influences include Aristotle and Quintilian and Spencer and Lowell, covering its use, its growth, the study of its mechanics, its grammatical and logical structures, the order of mastering its use in speaking, reading, and writing. The discussion covers primary, grammar, high school, and college instruction. Chapters IV, V, and VI relay facts drawn from child study. Chapters VII, VIII, IX, X, and XIII discuss the higher function of literature. Chapter VIII discusses the use of paraphrasing to aid comprehension. The author's preface speaks back to the Harvard Committee's reports on students' writing skills. The Schultz Archive copy is roughly the complete text.
1916 printing of 1902 copyrighted text. The author is credited as Principal of the High School Department of the Ethical Culture Schools, New York. An examination of the practices and assignments common in elementary and high school. According to Chubb, the purpose of the text is to provide instructors with some notion of what is being taught most commonly for the various levels of students and what the most common practices are. He indicates that his book does not advocate a specific pedagogical practice; rather, he hopes only to establish a greater continuity in English instruction throughout the educative process because a varied process can only prove detrimental to education on the whole. The book touches on reading and composition (both oral and written) from kindergarten up to high school. It addresses what sorts of literature should be assigned as reading as well as how grammar should be taught and the four kinds of writing: narrative, descriptive, exposition, and argumentative. The Schultz Archive includes the complete text, and the scans are good condition.
1901 printing of the 1901 copyrighted text. Author is credited with a B.A. and as Professor of English in the Michigan State Normal College in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Argues for the importance of historical study for scholarship in the grammar of modern English. Based in the study of English grammars over a span of two hundred years. Recommends the work of O. F. Emerson, A. C. Champneys, and Lounsbury. Strives to move away from grammar instruction based on memorization to instruction based on induction. Includes "test questions" at the end of each lecture. The four lectures: History of English Grammar Teaching, Descriptive Grammar and Scientific Grammar, Purpose and Method, False Syntax. The Schultz Archive copy is roughly the complete text.
1848 printing of 1847 copyrighted text. The author is credited as a reverend with a Master of Arts degree; as Principal of the classical and Mathematical Institute, Newburgh; and as the author of Something for Every Body. Chapters: the artist; the science, or the end of teaching; the tools and instruments; arranging and managing the material; schools, in their kinds, sorts, and varieties; common schools; persons most suitable for teachers; to the young. The Schultz Archive copy contains the TOC, the first page of the preface, and the text of chapter 3: tools and instruments.
1902 printing of 1902 copyrighted text. As a companion piece to Lockwood and Emerson's Composition and Rhetoric, this brief manual aims at helping teachers with lessons through additional hints, student sample work, and references and supplementary drill. The sections are an introduction, a review of English grammar, retelling another person's thought, expression of the pupil's own thoughts, imagination in description and narration, essential qualities of the theme, the paragraph, the relation of the college requirements in English to the study of composition and rhetoric, and adaptation of this textbook to various courses of study. The Schultz Archive's copy of this supplementary text is roughly complete.
This first New York edition was printed in 1867 and copyrighted in 1866. Based on lectures given by the author at the Teachers' Institutes at the invitation of the Secretary of the Board of Education of Massachusetts in 1845 and 1846. The contents include many education topics from arithmetic to geography to music to discipline. The Schultz Archive's copy includes only three chapters: the uses and abuses of memory, English grammar, and composition. The author's lecture of grammar seems to draw mostly on the work of Murrary, Crombie, Wallis, and Priestley. The composition chapter is brief and mostly covers the teaching of punctuation.
1891 printing of 1891 copyrighted text. The author is credited with a Master of Arts and as Superintendent Public Schools, Providence, R.I. A collection of 343 lessons structured to develop language and grammar skills simultaneously for pupils of the higher grammar grades. Text considers the pupils needs first then that of the teacher followed, lastly, by the needs of the subject. Covers grammar as the science of the sentence and the elements of composition as the art of writing. The grammar part covers includes analysis and punctuation. The composition part covers the forms of epistolary, social, business, and parliamentary writing; it also provides for practice in writing through exercises in the selection and arrangement of words, in description, narration, reproduction, paraphrase, and essay-writing. The Schultz Archive copy is roughly the complete 299 page text.
1891 printing of the 1891 copyrighted text. The author is credited as the author of MacLeod Reproduction Stories, MacLeod Composition Outlines, Lessons on Common Minerals, etc. The book is meant for students and teachers and aims to give information about the familiar objects around us. Examples of objects covered by chapter are: cotton, flax, tea, bread grains, pepper, bricks, and tobacco. The margins contain questions to answer from the information given in the text. Examples of topics covered in the cotton chapter: Where found, appearance of plant, the cotton gin, manufacture of cotton, spool-thread, fabrics made of cotton. Each chapter ends with a blackboard outline and ideas for objects to aid in the lesson. The Schultz Archive's copy is roughly the complete text.
No information on the printing or edition is given. The copyright is 1884. No information on the author is given. The book emphasizes adaptation as the fundamental law of rhetoric and the effects produced "at the time and under the circumstances." Conversation and letter writing are to be used to develop in the student rhetoric's important laws. Personal experience is seen as the basis for students learning narration and description. Illustrations are used throughout, particularly anecdotes and quotations from leading authors. The author specifically acknowledges _The Art of Extempore Speech_ by M. Bautain and _The Art of Reading_ by M. Legouve as influences. The sections are Sentence Making, Conversation, Letter-Writing, the Essay, the Oration, and Poetry. The chapter on conversation focuses on sociability, beginning with a chapter on "Good Breeding." The chapter on the essay is quite alliterative, its chapters: preparation, invention, style, purity, propriety, precision, perspictuity, power, perfection, and (most interestingly) preparation for the press. The Schultz Archive includes a large portion of the text; however, it is missing part I and pages 152-69, 256-303, and 504-end (Part V on oration and Part VI Poetry). The scans are good quality, but there is some highlighter that obscures text throughout.
No edition or printing information is available in this copy. Written by Reverend Charles Adams, Principal of Newbury Seminary, a high school and literary institution. This system of grammar was created by the author for use in his own classes. It is based on the work of Lindley Murray, whose works on English grammar were published in the last decade of the 18th century. The author has endeavored to improve upon its definitions where possible. It provides four divisions of grammar: Orthography, Etymology, Syntax and Prosody. Orthography covers the nature of letters and proper spelling. Etymology covers the classifications of words with accompanying examples. Rules of syntax are accompanied with correct and incorrect examples. Prosody has two parts: pronunciation, comprising accent, quantity, emphasis, pause, and tone, and the laws of versification, which is the arrangement of syllables. Laws of punctuation are included. The text ends with eleven chapters of example texts that serve as exercises in parsing.
The Schultz Archive includes the complete text with minimal disruptions in quality. There are very rare instances of highlighting which obscures the readability; however, the text is otherwise impeccable.
1892 printing of the 1891 copyrighted text. Based on experience teaching in the high school in Cleveland, Ohio. The preface explains the authors are concerned that students aren't taught how to go about writing assignments (especially those requiring research) and that they are made too self-conscious to write.The chapters cover narration, the use of words, description, common language errors, correspondence, combining narration and description (in poems, story writing, and nature writing), studying sentences and paragraphs, rhetorical figures, study of authors, qualities of style, historical writing, short stories for children, versification, Shakespeare, book reviews, persuasive discourse, and public speaking. The Schultz Archive's copy is roughly the complete text.
Fourth edition of the 1885 copyrighted text. The author is credited as having a Master of Arts degree and as Professor of Rhetoric and the English Lanugage in the University of Pennsylvania, member of MLA, and author of a book on English etymology. The preface from the third edition (1889) explains the added Analysis, which is meant to help map the contents and aid the student in studying. The preface to the original edition explains the author has tried to properly balance principles of the art of rhetoric with their practical application, as well as treat both style and invention. The book is focused on the study of prose, but illustrative examples from poets and novelists are occasionally used. The introduction explains rhetoric and composition, laws of rhetoric, and kinds of discourse. The book's first part, Style, covers grammatical purity, elements of style, and qualities of style (significance, naturalness, pathos, humor, satire, harmony, etc.). The second part, Invention, covers the theme and the discussion (modes of discussion, definition, division, comparison and contrast, excitation). The preface also credits the influence of Henry Day. The Schultz Archive's copy is not the complete text. It includes the Analysis and selections from the Introduction and parts one and two.
1881 printing of 1881 copyrighted text. Author is credited as Lately Teach of Grammar in the Westfield, Mass. State Normal School. A text designed to improve upon existing grammars that over-complicated, inconsistent, and based on Greek/Latin grammar. The text features illustrative examples before introducing principles, a basis in the English language, a concise design over comprehensiveness. Heavy on definitions, few examples. The topics covered include a definition of grammar; propositions, parts; classes of words, general divisions; propositions, kinds; classes of words, separately studied. There is also a section of helps: hints, examples, illustrations, lists. The Schultz Archive copy is roughly the complete 141 page text.
No edition or printing information is given in the copy. The author has a Bachelor of Arts from Smith College. As indicated by the subtitle, the work is intended for secondary and college students. Includes topics historical, imaginative, argumentative and subsequent brief chapters on: plan, or analysis; elaboration of points; criticism of one's own work; form of finished composition; composition an essential factor in the study of rhetoric; and figures of speech. The work seems addressed more to the teacher of the students than the students themselves. It attempts to explain how to students should mentally approach the act of writing but its language suggests a teacher thinking about the student’s mental habits rather than the student working though his own thoughts.
Copyrighted 1877. The author is credited as Professor in the University of Lewisburg. Preface states the book is not an introduction but rather is for advanced class, and it provides a systematic presentation of the laws of discourse. Contrasts itself with one-sided textbooks by Whately, Blair, and Theremin. Author's rhetoric takes logic, aesthetics, and ethics and establishes them in the mind of another. Author regards invention as subject/discipline specific; thus, it cannot be reduced to rule. Disposition/arrangement are also topic specific or form specific or genre specific. Focuses on the laws of mind, the laws of idea, and the law of mental economy (from Spencer). Introduction compares language with other modes of expressions. Laws of mind deals with both the intellect and the feelings, as well as experience and affiliation. The laws of idea deal with objects, notions, time, character, and the modes of discourse. Laws of form deal with plain language, word choice, figurative language, and economy of the feelings. The Schultz Archive copy includes the preface, TOC and pages 74 – 139 of the text.
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.
1846 printing of first American edition based on the second London edition. This Introduction states that English composition has two distinct branches: grammar and the union of logic and rhetoric. Credits Lindley Murray for his treatment of grammar, but argues that Latin grammar doesn't fully translate to the features of English. States that the object of this text is the discipline necessary to acquire English composition. The first edition was divided into three parts. The first part is on perception of the subject (includes themes and definitions); the second on perception and judgment; the third on perception, judgment and argumentation. The second edition was amended with additional illustrative examples, a list of subjects, and a fourth part with rules on how to "ascertain and express the considerations from which his conclusion of judgment proceeded" (arguments produced by comparison and contrast). The book's illustrative examples include excerpts from well known authors. The introduction acknowledges the influence of Addison, Johnson, Blair, and Watts. The Schultz Archive copy is roughly the complete text.
1876 printing of the 1876 copyrighted text. Original edition copyrighted 1860. The text is based on the idea that thought is the foundation of discourse and comes before considerations of form or style. This text is for less advanced pupils than the author's Elements of the Art of Rhetoric, and as such, includes summary statements of its principles. The revised edition has added a praxis of choice of words and their use in sentence-construction (to address students' troubles with grammar). It has also been changed to coincide with changes to the author's rhetoric elaborated in his The Art of Discourse. Part One, Invention, includes chapters on narration, description, division, partition, and confirmation. Part Two, Style, includes chapters on oral, suggestive, grammatical, subjective, and objective properties. Exercises appear throughout. The appendix includes over five hundred themes. The Schultz Archive's copy is roughly the complete text.
1879 printing of 1879 copyrighted text. The author is credited with a Bachelor of Arts and as Instructor in the St. Louis Central High School. The text is designed to follow instruction in English grammar and analysis. Preface claims there is a danger in making students too critical, therefore leading them to despise their own powers of expression. The work only includes what has been deemed practical. Uses exercises in oral composition. Chapters include: sentences and their parts, rhetorical forms of sentences, words, diction, style, figurative language, meter, characteristics of poetry, metaphrasing, composition (including narration, description, history, biography), imaginative composition, argumentative composition, letter writing, versification, criticism, correction of compositions, and list of subject for composition. The Schultz Archive copy contains the preface, TOC, and the chapters from the second half of the book covering composition.
1869 printing of the 1869 copyrighted text. The author is credited as a Doctor of Divinity, a Doctor of the Laws of English, and the President of the University of Michigan. Based on the experiences of the author's teaching, this text in an orderly presentation of the theory of the science and art of rhetoric with illustrations and directions on how to profit from it. Includes examples for imitation and disapproval from modern and ancient, obscure and celebrated authors. Divided into five parts: words and the material of expression, figures of speech and thought, composition and style, invention, and elocution. Part one includes sections on how to acquire the knowledge of words and how to obtain a good vocabulary. Part two includes sections on dialogue, vision, and wit. Part three includes sections on taste and different genres (epistolary, historical, fiction). Part four includes sections on description, narration, abstract subjects, and discussions. Part five includes a section on the intellectual and moral elements of elocution. The Schultz Archive is roughly the complete text.
1898 copyrighted text. The second of a two-book course for students in seventh and eighth grade—see first part: Primary Grammar and Composition. The preface states the book aims to be concise, using brief and clear definitions, and to use ample illustrations of its principles from works by masters of English. Exercises are used for practice in parsing or for discussion. Part one is devoted to the treatment of the sentence as a whole; part two develops matters of etymology, as well as phrases and clauses; part three covers syntax as well as capitalization, punctuation, and rhetorical figures; part four cover prosody and kinds of composition. The Schultz Archive copy contains the preface, TOC, pages 260 – 301 (covering kinds of composition and the style and art of composition), and the topic index. The copies are of varying quality, some of which are difficult to read.
1864 printing of 1864 copyrighted text. Author is credited with a Master of Arts, as Principal of the Collegiate Schools, NY, and as the author of several other texts. A grammar handbook that explains rules through question/answer format. The same system from the author's larger grammar but for young beginners. The text aims to awaken students' interest, teach them to think, enable them to understand as they learn, lead them through natural steps, and give practical application to every abstract principle. The Schultz Archive copy is roughly the complete 120 page text.
1835 printing of the second edition of the 1834 copyrighted text. Parker is credited with a Master of Arts, as the Principal of the Franklin Grammar school, and as author of Progressive Exercises in English Composition. Fox is credited with a Master of Arts and as Principal of the Boylston Grammar School. The preface states the text is based on the authors' experience as teachers and purposely uses repetitions and a colloquial style to speak its audience. The "usual arrangement" is not followed. Instead, the pupil is first taught to analyze words and phrases, and etymology and syntax are reserved for after the pupil is familiar with the simpler parts of a sentence. The parsing exercises are designed to give students practice in supplying the ellipses in sentences. The Schultz Archive copy is roughly the complete 96 page text.
1851 printing of the 1851 copyrighted text. The author is credited as Reverend P. Bullions, Doctor of Divinity and the author of the Series of Grammars, Greek, Latin, and English, on the Same Plan. Bullions's Progressive Exercises text is intended to give students an opportunity to apply what they have learned in his Principles of English Grammar grammar handbook to distinguished literary works. The does, however, have directions for analysis and parsing on paged 5 thru 29.The short work includes selections of poetry and prose that the students are expected to analyze and parse in order to exercise the principles that they previously learned. As such, this text is a supplementary work that is not expected to stand alone. The Schultz Archive includes everything up to page 73, where the text abruptly ends. The scans are good quality, however.
1896 printing of 1896 copyrighted text. Author is credited as Teacher of English in Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY. The book is a collection of speeches presented at the Brooklyn Teachers' Association on the subject of elementary composition. Chapter 1, A Word to the Reader, states the author believes composition may include speaking as well as writing and work by a community as well as work by individuals. It also voices concern about composition teaching that invents a barrier of formulas and conventionality. Chapters cover letter-writing, story-telling, word-collecting, descriptions, the simile and personification, elaboration of sentences into paragraphs, outlining compositions, criticism and other various topics. The Schultz Archive copy is roughly the complete 114 page text.