Creator
Samuel Kirkham
Title
English Grammar in Familiar Lectures.
Coverage
Cincinnati
Publisher
N. & G. Guilford
Date
1827
Subject
5th ed.
Description
Kirkham (1797–1843) inspired Abraham Lincoln, who as a teenager walked miles to get a copy of the grammar and then memorized it. By 1829, the book was selling 22,000 copies annually. The big foldout was a major innovation. An aficionado of phrenology, Kirkham left his skull to his wife, then to his son, and then to a phrenological society. His outré obituary began, “His head was 21 inches around . . . , but was more high and long than large at the base.” The loving remembrance goes on to say Kirkham was among “the most irritable and fretful of men.”