as early as 1832. Albert Pickett was at one time president of the
College of Teachers and his books were published by John W. Pickett, who
was probably his brother. Later some additional books were prepared by
John W. Pickett, M.D., LL.D., and published by U.P. James in 1841, and
by J. Earnst in 1845. These readers were vigorously pushed into the
market for several years, but in the end were unsuccessful.

The Goodrich Readers published by Morton & Griswold in Louisville, Ky.,
were perhaps the most constant competitors with the McGuffey Readers in
the early years throughout the states of the Mississippi Valley. These
were prepared by S.G. Goodrich, the author of the then popular "Peter
Parley Tales." The readers were originally published in Boston and
some copies bear the imprint of Otis, Broaders & Co. They were first
copyrighted in 1839 and were frequently revised. They finally became the
property of the Louisville publisher. Mr. Smith and Mr. Morton kept up a
most vigorous schoolbook war, especially in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky
in the years from 1845 to 1860. Cobb's Readers, copyrighted in 1845,
were published for some time in Cincinnati by B. Davenport. These were
once widely introduced but soon went out of use.

It was very much the custom in those early days, before the railroads
made transportation quick and cheap for Eastern publishers to furnish a
set of plates to some enterprising bookseller in the West or to print an
edition for him with his imprint.

Ebenezer Porter's Rhetorical Reader copyrighted in 1835 was sold largely
in the western market by William H. Moore, of Cincinnati, and in 1848
the books bore his imprint. Thus there was ample competition for the
market even at this early date. The Pickett Readers, Cobb Readers,
Goodrich Readers, and even the excellent Rhetorical Reader of Ebenezer