Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Trent and Wells, eds. Colonial Prose and Poetry. 1901.

Vol. III. The Growth of the National Spirit: 1710–1775

The New England Primer

ALTHOUGH the New England Primer has been called the Little Bible of New England, and was, next to the Scriptures, the book most read and studied there for more than a century, yet so ironical is the fate of books that it is not exactly known when it first appeared. Furthermore, of some two million copies that may well have been printed and sold during the eighteenth century, less than fifty copies are known to exist; these, significantly enough, represent no less than forty editions. The Primer was first printed by Benjamin Harris, and was adapted from that compiler’s Protestant Tutor, a book issued in England before he took refuge in America. It must have been issued between 1687 and 1690, and have achieved immediate success. A second edition was called for in 1691. By the beginning of the next century we have evidence, from an advertisement, that John Cotton’s Shorter Catechism, The Milk for Babes, was added to it, but the first edition of the Primer known to collectors, that of 1727, does not contain it. Indeed, there are such constant changes, greater and smaller, in the make-up of the book, that its bibliography is exceedingly difficult. At first somewhat secular, it reached its stage of most unrelenting piety between 1740 and 1760, as may be seen by a comparison between the rhymed alphabets in our extracts. Politics, too, influence the changes, as may be observed under the letter K. The Exhortation unto his Children of John Rogers appears to have been written in 1555 by Robert Smith, a martyr of that year. Some printer attributed the authorship to Matthew Rogers, probably to secure a better sale, Matthew (for John) being a name he had assumed as translator for Tyndale. The introductory statement regarding him does not accord with facts. John Cotton’s Milk for Babes was probably written in 1641 and printed before 1645. It was already popular before the earliest issue of the Primer. The Primer was gradually displaced by Webster’s Blue Back Speller and Third Part Reader, but it continued to find sale in great numbers during the first forty years of the nineteenth century. Our citations from the early editions are taken by permission from Paul Leicester Ford’s admirable monograph, The New England Primer. The Spiritual Milk and the Dialogue between Christ, Youth, and the Devil are from the edition of 1762. The poem itself, however, is by the original compiler “the neat and poetical Ben Harris.” A facsimile of a post-Revolutionary edition of the Primer was issued by Ginn and Company in 1901. Curious information regarding the book may be found in No. 2 of Volume 8 of Columbia University Contributions to Philosophy, Psychology, and Education, an Essay by Dr. Reeder on the Historical Development of School Readers and Method in Teaching Reading (1900).

Now the Child being entred in his Letters and Spelling, let him learn these and such like Sentences by Heart, whereby he will be both instructed in his Duty, and encouraged in his Learning.

Mr. John Rogers, Minister of the Gospel in London, was the first Martyr in Queen Mary’s Reign, and was burnt at Smithfield, February the Fourteenth, 1554. His Wife, with nine small Children & one at her Breast, following Him to the Stake, with which sorrowful Sight he was not in the least daunted, but with wonderful Patience died courageously for the Gospel of JESUS CHRIST.