The first readers, a set of seven, were published in 1836 as an anthology series with topics such as

The first readers, a set of seven, were published in 1836 as an anthology series with topics such as citizenship, character, conservation and the importance of literacy for salvation.
The readers have never gone out of print and have been printed and read by more Americans than any other books except the Bible and Webster's dictionaries.
Readers educated farmers, the urban poor and immigrants for generations and were used in public, private, church and missionary schools, reaching several nations.
Self-educated Henry Ford referred to the McGuffey readers as his "alma mater."
Readers were unusual for their high-cost use of drawings and promotion of tolerance toward native Americans and equal education for females. They also used a crude form of phonics, also unusual for the time.
McGuffey did not become wealthy with the book's popularity, receiving token royalties most of his life. The success of the book did earn him the moniker "Schoolmaster of the Nation."
McGuffey attended Greersburg Academy in Darlington, Pa., and Washington (Pa.) College. He was a professor at Miami University in Oxford and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va., where he is buried. He served as president at Cincinnati College and Ohio University in Athens.
McGuffey was not fond of children but did invite "sample groups" to his porch. If they liked the stories he read to them, they stayed in his readers; if not, they were discarded.
He was known as a stern taskmaster and was once reprimanded by a college for being too strict with students.
McGuffey is credited with popularizing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" by using it in a lesson in his readers.