Noah Webster

Scudder, Horace Elisha, 1838-1902Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.5

Word count: 343K words
Chapters: 35

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Noah Webster by Horace Elisha ScudderAuthor: Scudder, Horace Elisha, 1838-1902,Language: English, Class: PE: Language and Literatures: English, Release Date: Feb 9, 2010

Editor's review

Noah Webster is a biography of Noah Webster by Horace Elisha Scudder, released in electronic form by Project Gutenberg. Webster is known for lexicography and English spelling reform, and the value of this biography lies in restoring the man behind the dictionary as a concrete historical figure: his education, his views on language, and the cultural environment of his time. Scudder himself was a nineteenth-century American writer and editor, and his prose carries the ease and moral concern of biography writing in that era, giving readers a sense of the historical feel of biographical literature. The book falls under English language and literature; it is both an introduction to the standardization of American English and a supplementary text for courses on the history of English and the history of lexicography. It should be read not as a strict modern scholarly biography but rather as a popular biography marked by its era, through which one can understand how nineteenth-century Americans narrated their own linguistic tradition.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in the history of English dictionaries and language standardization
Students who need supplementary reading in American cultural history or the history of English
Literary readers who enjoy nineteenth-century biographical prose
People who want to know about Webster's life rather than only his dictionary

Not a good fit for

Rigorous researchers expecting modern scholarly verification and extensive notes
Readers who only want a dictionary usage guide or vocabulary-learning tips
Readers who cannot read the English original and need a Chinese translation

Reading tips

Read the chapters on Webster's education and historical background first, then move on to the lexicography section.
As you read, note the author's tone in evaluating Webster and compare nineteenth-century biography with modern biography.
Consult public materials on Webster's dictionary to check the biographical narrative against the historical record.
If using it as course material for the history of English, excerpt the passages on spelling reform for classroom discussion.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book written by Webster or about him?

It is a biography written by Horace Elisha Scudder, and its subject is Noah Webster. It is not a work by Webster himself, so readers should not confuse it with Webster's dictionary.

What English level is needed to read this book?

This is a nineteenth-century English biography with long sentences and relatively formal diction, so intermediate or higher English reading ability is recommended; beginners can read the opening and closing paragraphs of chapters first to grasp the main idea, then read the middle in detail.

Does the book cover technical details of lexicography?

The information does not provide a table of contents or detailed content, so the depth of technical detail cannot be confirmed. Given the biographical genre, the book is more likely to focus on his life, times, and views on language; readers will need to judge the technical discussion for themselves.

Comments

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About the author

Scudder, Horace Elisha, 1838-1902 Author

Horace Elisha Scudder (1838–1902) is not identified in the library's records as an American writer or editor, and his birth and death years and nationality are not explicitly stated; public information is limited. Five of his works are held in the collection, mainly biographies and folk tales: the two-volume James Russell Lowell, A Biography; Noah Webster, a life of the cultural figure; The Book of Fables and Folk Stories; and Seven Little People and their Friends, written for children and general readers. These works suggest he excelled at shaping lives, cultural anecdotes, and story traditions into clear, readable narratives that balance historical detail with accessibility, making them useful introductions to nineteenth-century American literature and cultural figures.