You know I'm always on the hunt for beautiful old spellers loaded with good words, and this is very much one of those. This one was written by Abner Kneeland, (upon a plan agreeable to Noah Webster's "Easy Standard") and printed in Windsor Vermont in 1804 by Nahum Mower. In addition to the wonderful hand-stitched leather cover wrap and lots of calligraphic marks on the interior boards, what I love is that it is just all good words, no lessons or interruptions! They appear one after the other, on an on, organized by number of syllables and, sometimes subject/theme, with brief and often quite wonderfully worded definitions. To me, flipping through this is to see poems jumping off the page! (And sometimes all the more so for the use of the long/medial "s".) A rare and lovely one, and and an excellent gift for the student, writer, teacher, or scrabble player in one's life!
6 11/16" x 4 1/16" x 7/8" and in very good condition especially given its being more than 200 years old. It appears it was bound with two leather strips; only one remains but it is holding all the pages together well. Stitching on cover wrap is holding well too and leather is beautifully worn.