The American Spelling Book

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This edition of Noah Webster’s <i>The American Spelling Book</i> was published by Holbrook and Fessenden of Brattleborough (now Brattleboro), Vermont in 1821. Webster’s <i>The American Spelling Book</i> was commonly known as the “blue backed speller” due to its blue cover, and was one of the most popular spelling books since its first publication in 1783. The speller was followed by a book on grammar in 1784 and a reader in 1785. Webster’s goal was to divorce the American educational system from its British roots, and accordingly his speller substituted many British spellings for American variants, dropping extra letters like “u” and “e” to simplify the language.