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Mavor, William.
The English Spelling-Book, Accompanied by a Progressive Series of Easy and Familiar Lessons, Intended as an Introduction to the Reading and Spelling of the English Language.
Publisher: Webb & Sons, London;
Date of Publication: 1840
Stock Code: 14872
Stated ‘new edition, carefully revised and corrected’. Duodecimo, pp., 91 [1], pagination inclusive of upper cover. Publisher’s blue paper wraps backed with black skiver, titles and vignette of a cavalryman printed to upper upper. Full-page woodcut frontispiece to verso of upper cover, numerous woodcut illustrations within text. Minor soiling to covers; very slight loss to spine-tips. Small closed tear to frontispiece; a few very slight nicks to edges of text-block but contents generally clean and neat. A scarce educative work for children, produced the prolific Otley-based printer Webb and Sons. Webb and Sons was operative from c. 1832 to 1882. The firm produced a variety of jobbing, pedagogical, and ephemeral works, many of which were sold through London agents such as Dean and Son. The firm used ‘stock blocks’ throughout their works to add vignettes and illustrations, many of which are visible in this volume. While Mavor’s spelling book was widely produced by various nineteenth-century publishers, this Webb edition, like many of their ephemeral works for children, is rare. The Webb factory was destroyed in a fire in 1882, and their small, keenly illustrated works for juvenile readers were not systematically purchased by copyright libraries. £65.00