The ''New England Psalter'' was an early reading

textbook A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions. Schoolbooks are textboo ...

for children which was first published in the late 17th century. It was preceded by the

hornbook A hornbook (horn-book) is a single-sided alphabet tablet, which served from medieval times as a primer for study, and sometimes included vowel combinations, numerals or short verse. The hornbook was in common use in England around 1450, but may ...

and the

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as early reading texts and by a variety of

psalter A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the emergence of the book of hours in the Late Middle Ages, psalters we ...

s which were used in religious services. The contents of the ''New England Psalter'' included: the Psalms, some of the stories of the Old and New Testament, rules for reading, lessons in spelling, instructions for printing letters, reading verse and the use of capitals. It is significant that during this period of time the laws of England forbade the printing of Bibles outside of Britain. It was considered legal to print the Psalms in America. Once children had completed the lessons in the ''New England Psalter'' they proceeded to the Bible, the catechism and the spelling book. The ''New England Psalter'' was reprinted regularly throughout the eighteenth century.

References

{{Portal , Children's literature * Monaghan, J.(2005). Learning to read and write in colonial America. Boston, MA:

University of Massachusetts Press The University of Massachusetts Press is a university press that is part of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The press was founded in 1963, publishing scholarly books and non-fiction. The press imprint is overseen by an interdisciplinar ...

. * Smith, N.(2002) American reading instruction. Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Psalters