Caleb Bingham was one of the first American textbook writers of significance. His readers were perhaps the most widely adopted reading texts used in American schools during the first quarter of the nineteenth century. Issued in a multitude of editions by many publishers, some of his textbooks remained in use as late as the 1870s. In many areas of rural America during the first decades of the century Bingham's books were the only juvenile literature available to young readers.

Appropriately for a pioneer writer, Bingham was a son of the frontier. He was born in the settlement of Salisbury in the northwest corner of Connecticut. His parents were Daniel and Hannah Conant Bingham. Young Bingham grew up on the often dangerous frontier of the 1750s and 1760s. After attending the local school, he was prepared for college by the family's minister. Because of his connection with the family...