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the Fifth Reader. Ten years later the entire series
was made over and issued in six books. These were
then called the New Readers. From 1853 until 1878
the books remained substantially unchanged; but in
the latter year they were renewed largely in sub-
stance and improved in form.   These readers as
copyrighted in 1879 were extensively used for more
than a quarter of a century.  Changing conditions
in the school room called for another revision in
1901. This latest form now in extensive use is called
The New McGuffey Readers.
  Each of these revisions has constituted practically
a new series although the changes have never in-
cluded the entire contents. In the higher readers
will be found today many selections which appeared
in the original books. The reason for retaining such
selections is clear. No one has been able to write
in the English language selections that are better
for school use than some written by Shakespeare,
Milton, Bacon, and other early writers. The liter-
ature of the English language has not all been writ-
ten in the present decade nor in the last century.
  As at first published, the lower books of the
McGuffey Readers had no trace of the modern
methods now used in teaching the mastery of words
-even the alphabet was not given in orderly form;
but the alphabetic method of teaching the art of
reading was then the only one used. The pupil at
first spelled each word by naming the letters and
then pronounced each syllable and then the word.
                        [5]