Can Your Kids Name these Four Famous Americans? What do they REALLY know about them? And what can they LEARN from them?

1897, Four Great Americans, Washington, Franklin, Webster, Lincoln, By James Baldwin

Book Description: American Book Company, New York, 1897, assumed 2nd edition with two dates stated 1896 and 1897. Although could be a 1st edition? Cloth Hardcover Boards.

Book Condition: Good+++ for a book over 114 years old. No Jacket. 235 pp with pictures of Washington, Franklin, Webster and Lincoln. Green cloth with black lettering. Wear to edges and corners (see scans for condition). Spine worn at edges and head/heel, binding is tight. Inside pages are clean although browning with slight foxing. 5.25" x 7.25" tall, .75" thick.

About The Auther: James Baldwin (1841-1925) was born in Indiana, United States and made a career as an educator and administrator in that state starting at the age of 24. After a long career in education, he went on to become a widely published textbook editor and children's author in the subjects of legends, mythology, biography, and literature, among others. 

Written for children, James Baldwin’s history of Washington, Franklin, Webster, and Lincoln brings these men to life in a way that will be interesting for adults as well. The stories touch on the little humanities of the great men, rather than dwelling on the great works and great events of their lifetimes, without ignoring the latter. (Summary written by Sibella Denton)

Meet the Author...

James Baldwin (1841-1925)

The wonderfully lively and clear writings of James Baldwin are almost forgotten today, and most of his 50+ books are long out of print. However, at one time his influence was tremendous: It has been estimated that during the early years of the 20th century over half of all the school books in use in the United States were written or edited by Baldwin.

James Baldwin was a self-educated American writer born in a rural Quaker settlement in Indiana in 1841. Few people in his community owned any book other than the Bible, and reading was viewed with suspicion. However, Baldwin's own home was an exception to the rule in this backwoods community, for Baldwin's father had assembled an extensive personal library. From boyhood, he had a passion for reading and classic books, and read voluminously, suffering the taunts of his school companions and neighbors members who considered too much book-learning the tool of the Devil.

His early career was spent both as a teacher and superintendent of schools in Indiana. After 20 years in the school systems, he found work editing text books with Harper & Brothers and the American Book Company. Observing the stilted and formal character of many of the text books of the day, Baldwin set out to write lively, clear and easy-to-read books of his own that did not talk down to readers. He chose the best of our literary heritage and cast it into a form that delighted children of all ages. Beginning with "The Story of Siegfried" in 1882, Baldwin wrote over 50 books retelling ancient and modern legends and stories, along with many historical and biographical works, including the much-loved biographies in "Four Great Americans". He died in 1925.

Books Written:

• 1882 The Story of Siegfried (other editions 1888, 1904)
• 1882 An Introduction to the Study of English Literature and Literary Criticism
• 1886 Essential Studies in English and American Literature
• 1888 The Book-Lover (other editions 1889, 1902)
• 1888 The Story of Roland
• 1890-91 Harper's School Speaker
• 1892 Six Centuries of English Poetry: Tennyson to Chaucer
• 1893 The Book of Elegies
• 1893 The Famous Allegories
• 1894 Choice English Lyrics
• 1895 Fairy Stories and Fables
• 1895 The Horse Fair
• 1895 Old Greek Stories: third reader grade
• 1895 Old Stories of the East
• 1896 The Story of Daniel Webster for young readers
• 1896 The Story of Benjamin Franklin for young readers
• 1896 Fifty Famous Stories Retold
• 1897 Four Great Americans; Washington, Franklin, Webster, Lincoln
• 1897 Baldwin's Readers (First-Eighth)
• 1899 Our New Possessions: Cuba, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Philippines
• 1901 The Discovery of the Old Northwest and its Settlement by the French
• 1901 The Conquest of the Old Northwest and its Settlement by Americans
• 1902 A Story of the Golden Age
• 1902 A Guide to Systematic Readings in the Encyclopaedia Britannica
• 1903 Barnes's Elementary History of the United States Told in Biographies
• 1903 The Wonder Book of Horses
• 1904 Hero Tales Told in School
• 1904 Abraham Lincoln, a True Life
• 1905 Thirty More Famous Stories Retold
• 1905 The Golden Fleece: More Old Greek Stories
• 1905 The Fairy Reader
• 1905 Robinson Crusoe
• 1906 Nine Choice Poems of Longfellow, Lowell, Macaulay, Byron, Browning, and Shelley (includes introductory sketches)
• 1907 An American Book of Golden Deeds
• 1907 Another Fairy Reader
• 1910 Stories of Don Quixote
• 1912 Fifty Famous People
• 1912 The Sampo, hero adventures from the Finnish Kalevala
• 1914 In My Youth (autobiography under name of Robert Dudley)
• 1916 Fifty Famous Rides and Riders
• 1919 The Story of Liberty
• 1920 Sailing the Seas, the Log of Tom Drake

(CF)