Sane people, people who no longer want us to drive ourselves made in the pronunciatory purgatory that is the English language, have been trying to get us to spell and learn to read using phonics since 1570. Yes, 1570.
Having written three books trying to convince the masses that our way of "wording" was counterproductive, Hart argued that the then-contemporary spelling practices of his day were chaotic and illogical. He proposed a radically reformed orthography on purely phonological principles. His goal was to introduce a spelling system with a one-to-one relationship between sounds and symbols . . . that just makes "sens" to me.
Ever since, wave after wave of people who just want things to work well have attempted to get the British and / or the Americans to go in for it. A significant push happened in the late 1840's and early 1850's, which did lead briefly to some schools adopting an actual phonetic textbook, i.e. that published by Otis Clapp, publisher of all things innovative [homeopathy, phrenology, phonetics, etc.].
And here it is. A wonderful little piece of linguistic history and a charming little curiosity. Rather scarce in the trade.
Ecselsiur Seriez. Furst Fonetic Redur. Fort Edieun. Boston. Published by Otis Clapp. 1852. 72pp.
A good copy, that's stained as shown, bound with cloth spine and lithographed covers. Text is lightly shaken, with some toning.
