ELIZA STEELE WEBSTER JONES - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 08/15/1876 - HFSID 56778

ELIZA STEELE WEBSTER JONES
The fifth daughter of Noah Webster pens a letter to Sir W.E. Smith interested in her father's work in which she includes information on the manuscript she has enclosed (not included)
Autograph Letter signed: "E.S.W. Jones - the last - survivor of his children" in iron gall ink, 1p, 4½x7 adjoined leaves, 9x7 unfolded. Bridgeport, Connecticut, 1876 August 15. To "Sir W.E. Smith". In full: "The enclosed manuscript is the work + writing of my honored Father Noah Webster. I formed a band of sheets in their order, in the attic of my home soon after his death. They must have been his earliest efforts at Dictionary making + are much scratched + defaced I remember that the labors of two years were rejected, + that he spent many, in making a synopsis in preparation for the book given afterwards to the public./ Yours truly". Eliza Steele Webster Jones (1803-1888) was the fifth daughter of Noah Webster (1758-1843). Noah Webster thought American children should learn from American books rather than the British texts available at that time. Accordingly, he wrote his own textbook, A Grammatical Institute of the English Language, in 1783. Noah followed the volume, called the "Blue-backed Speller" because of its blue cover, with the first American dictionary. Begun when he was 43, the project took 27 years (it was completed in 1828, when he was 70). The work featured some 70,000 words, with American spellings instead of the familiar British ones and uniquely American words. Two horizontal mailing folds. Two tears near center of 2nd adjoined page. Lightly toned. Piece of binder paper has been affixed at top edge of verso of 2nd page of the adjoined leaves, with adhesive remnants attached. Otherwise, fine condition.