Guide]

He prepared the manuscript of the Rhetorical Guide after the close of
his labor as a teacher. The work probably occupied his leisure time in a
law office before he acquired remunerative practice in his profession.

[McGuffey's Sixth Reader]

The contract between Mr. A.H. McGuffey and W.B. Smith, dated September
30, 1841, provided for the preparation within eighteen months, of the
manuscript of a book to be called McGuffey's Rhetorical Reader, or by
any other appropriate name which Mr. Smith might select. It was to
contain not less than three hundred and twenty-four duodecimo pages nor
more than four hundred and eighty. Mr. Smith paid five hundred dollars
for it, in three notes payable in three, twelve, and eighteen months
after the delivery of the manuscript. The book was issued in 1844 as
McGuffey's Rhetorical Guide. Its material, revised by its author, later
became, in modified form, the Fifth Reader in the five-book series, and
again much of the same material was used in the Sixth Reader published
first in 1855.

Mr. A.H. McGuffey died at his home on Mt. Auburn, Cincinnati, on June 3,
1896. He was twice married. His first wife, married in 1839, was Miss
Elizabeth M. Drake, daughter of the eminent Dr. Daniel Drake. After her
death he married Miss Caroline V. Rich of Boston. He had a large family.
A son, Charles D. McGuffey. Esq., lives at Chattanooga, Tenn.

Mr. A.H. McGuffey was a noteworthy figure in any assemblage of men. He
was tall, slender and erect. His manner was urbane and reserved. He
served on many charitable and educational boards and was attentive to
his trusts. He was an active member of the Episcopalian Church, being
many years a warden in his parish, and frequently a delegate to the
Diocesan Convention, where he was a recognized authority on
Ecclesiastical Law.

In a life of nearly eighty years in which he was active in many
educational and beneficent enterprises his early work in the preparation
of the Rhetorical Guide probably exercised the widest, the best, and
the most enduring influence. Many of the newspapers in all parts of the
country published notices of his death, recognizing in kindly terms the
service that had been rendered the writers by the schoolbook of which he
was the author.

THE PUBLISHERS AND EDITORS.

Since the McGuffey Readers became at an early day the absolute property
of their publishers, they became responsible for all subsequent
revisions and corrections