Indiana and Kentucky
in the years from 1845 to 1860. Cobb's Readers, copyrighted in 1845,
were published for some time in Cincinnati by B. Davenport. These were
once widely introduced but soon went out of use.

It was very much the custom in those early days, before the railroads
made transportation quick and cheap for Eastern publishers to furnish a
set of plates to some enterprising bookseller in the West or to print an
edition for him with his imprint.

Ebenezer Porter's Rhetorical Reader copyrighted in 1835 was sold largely
in the western market by William H. Moore, of Cincinnati, and in 1848
the books bore his imprint. Thus there was ample competition for the
market even at this early date. The Pickett Readers, Cobb Readers,
Goodrich Readers, and even the excellent Rhetorical Reader of Ebenezer
Porter were all swept out of the schools by the superior qualities of
the McGuffey Readers and the persistent energies of their publishers.

[Humorous Advertising]

In these books the publishers found space for a little advertising of
their wares. In Pickett's Readers there is printed conspicuously at the
top of a page a warm commendation of Pickett's Readers, written in 1835
by William H. McGuffey, Professor at Miami University, in which he
"considers them superior to any other works I have seen." That was
before he made his own readers. Mr. Smith responded by publishing a
strong commendation of one of his books signed by Mr. Albert Pickett.
Life is seldom devoid of the lesser amenities.

The Willson Readers, published by the Harper Brothers, were vigorously
pushed into the schools of Ohio and Indiana about 1867. The first supply
was usually sold to the school authorities by agents who operated on the
commission plan. Thus the agents had an interest in the introduction
sales, but cared nothing about the continuance of sales in after years.
Booksellers, meanwhile, kept the McGuffey Readers in stock, and whenever
new readers were desired these were easily obtained. In a few years the
Willson Readers were out of the schools. Of course, there was no lack of
traveling agents and of circulars which freely criticised these Willson
Readers, which were constructed to teach not only reading but science.
After a short time the children wearied of reading about bugs and
beetles they had never seen and gladly welcomed the books that had a
single aim.

[Enduring Qualities]

In the eyes of a publisher a good schoolbook is one that