Tarbell’s Lessons in Language – Book No.1 is designed to assist native English speaking students to speak and write with confidence in both personal and business settings. It contains lessons in vocabulary, grammar, cursive writing, and reading comprehension. The front and back covers are illustrated with intricate floral designs. The back cover also lists other related texts.
Author Horace S. Tarbell was an influential school administrator and author of early children’s textbooks. He graduated from Connecticut Wesleyan University in 1859, after studying the classics. He moved to Michigan in 1865 and was a principal in a Detroit public school and President of the State Teachers’ Association. Tarbell later served as the State Superintendent of Public Instruction in Michigan, the Superintendent of Schools in Indianapolis and, finally, the Superintendent of Schools in Providence, Rhode Island.
Tarbell authored a series of well-received textbooks on language in the 1880s. He served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Education Association during the 1890s. The Horace S. Tarbell House in Brush Park, Michigan is a preserved Prairie-style mansion that was designed by architect George W. Maher completed in 1897. The home listed is on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
Edwin Ginn founded the publishing company Ginn Brothers in the City of Boston in 1867. The firm was reorganized under the name Ginn & Company in 1885 and became particularly known for its school texts. In 1895, the company built a new publishing factory, the Athenaeum Press, in Cambridge. Ginn & Company continued to be a successful publisher of educational texts for 70 years.