About the Primer

The New England Primer, introduced in Boston in 1660 by Benjamin Harris, was the first textbook printed in America. For 100 years after its introduction, The New England Primer was the beginning textbook for students; until 1900 it continued to be a principal text in all types of American schools: public, private, semi-private, home, dame, parochial, etc. The Founders, as well as most other Americans, learned to read from The New England Primer and the Bible.

Although later editions offered more reading and vocabulary words than the first few editions, the Primer underwent few significant changes over its 200 years of widespread use. The core of the Primer–its rhyming alphabet, its Bible alphabet, its Bible questions, and its Shorter Catechism–remained intact from reprint to reprint.

The 1900 reprint described the impact of the Primer:

"The New England Primer was one of the greatest books ever published. It went through innumerable editions; it reflected in a marvelous way the spirit of the age that produced it, and contributed, perhaps more than any other book except the Bible, to the molding of those sturdy generations that gave to America its liberty and its institutions."

Originally, The New England Primer was a text for students just beginning to read; since there were no grade classifications in American schools until the 19th century, it was simply called a Primer (a small elementary book for teaching children to read). It is the current equivalent of a first-grade text or reader. However, it is probably well above the reading and vocabulary level of today's typical first-graders–a potent commentary on the difference between the educational system of our Founders and that of today!

—By David Barton, excerpted from the foreword of the 1991 reprint of The New England Primer (1777 edition), published by WallBuilder Press, Aledo, TX.