ROLLO LEARNING TO READ

New York: Samuel Colman, 1839. Very good.. Early edition of the book that made the Rollo series big, intended to instruct the novice American reader by combining a mature vocabulary with a lively series of animal metamorphoses and moral lessons. The hapless and ungrateful Rollo made his first cameo appearance in the rare THE LITTLE SCHOLAR LEARNING TO TALK: A Picture Book for Rollo, by His Father, reissued in 1839 as ROLLO LEARNING TO TALK. ROLLO LEARNING TO READ is thus technically the second Rollo book, but the first "devoted wholly to Rollo" (Blanck) and is the title responsible for the series's popularity and influence. 6.25'' x 4''. Original gilt-lettered blind-stamped green cloth. Illustrated with black and white frontispiece and full-page wood engravings. 180 pages. Moderate edgewear and scuffing to boards, sometimes exposing bits of board. Pencil to front free endpaper. Mild foxing throughout.