Lost History Books

These chapbooks might be my most thrilling find ever!¹

First Lessons² is one of the first materials created specifically to educate Black Americans. It was published by the American Tract Society in New York in 1862, and it stayed in print for several years. The content of First Lessons appears to be pretty standard stuff. It has lovely illustrations including this one of a young black girl learning to read.

The 1863 Annual Report of the American Tract Society in New York indicates that First Lessons was in use in a few cities across the south.³

My Little Primer⁴ is just a small 16 page chapbook that is roughly 3″ x 5″. I’ve only found one mention of the book in period sources and it’s the 1865 annual report of the American Tract Society presented at Boston. It is listed as a new publication in their report, so it must have been published in 1864 or 1865.

My Little Primer is listed with a companion volume titled My Little Reader. Both are credited to Mrs. Jane S. Warren, the wife of American Tract Society secretary and editor Reverend Israel P. Warren. Unfortunately, I’ve been unable to locate a copy of the latter volume. Both books were released the same year as The Freedman’s Primer and The Freedman’s Second Reader. That might be a coincidence – but My Little Primer and The Freedman’s Primer have striking similarities. Here’s a side by side comparison of a few pages of My Little Primer and a later edition of the Freedman’s Primer called the Lincoln Primer⁵.

These two books are different sizes, so only a few of the illustrations could work for both books. In some places there are just textual similarities with different illustrations. Page fourteen contains my favorite illustration and story in My Little Primer. There is a similar story with a more complex lustration in The Lincoln Primer. I suspect they are essentially smaller versions of the Freedman’s books.

A Child’s Primer⁶ is essentially a reprint of the New England Primer made by the American Tract Society. It is listed for sale on their 1855 annual report so the first edition is at least that old.

These images were taken while the items were in my possession. I have since donated all three chapbooks to the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Massachusetts.

1. Most of this content was originally posted on Twitter and Instagram in July 2022. I have included information I discovered after my initial post. ↩︎
2. I have scanned First Lessons in its entirety, it is available at this link: https://archive.org/details/first-lessons-ats-pamphlet ↩︎
3. Thirty-Eighth Annual Report of the American Tract Society Presented at New York in 1863. ↩︎
4. I have scanned My Little Primer in its entirety, it is available at this link: https://archive.org/details/my-little-primer-ATS ↩︎
5. The Lincoln Primer is available to view at this link courtesy of Harvard University: https://iiif.lib.harvard.edu/manifests/view/drs:475026908$1i ↩︎
6. I have scanned A Child’s Primer in its entirety, it is available at this link: https://archive.org/details/childs-primer-images ↩︎