A primer (in this
sense
A sense is a biological system used by an organism for sensation, the process of gathering information about the surroundings through the detection of Stimulus (physiology), stimuli. Although, in some cultures, five human senses were traditio ...
usually pronounced , sometimes , usually the latter in modern British English) is a first
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, but also of learners ( ...
for teaching of
reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...
, such as an
alphabet book or
basal reader
Basal readers are textbooks used to teach reading (process), reading and associated skills to schoolchildren. Commonly called "reading books" or "readers" they are usually published as Anthology, anthologies that combine previously published sh ...
. The word also is used more broadly to refer to any book that presents the most basic elements of any subject. Secular primer textbooks developed out of medieval religious
primer prayer books and educationally-oriented revisions of these devotionals proliferated during the
English Reformation
The English Reformation began in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away first from the authority of the pope and bishops Oath_of_Supremacy, over the King and then from some doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church ...
.
The
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
''Enschedé
Abecedarium'' of the late 15th century, translated into
English as the ''Salisbury Prymer'', has been identified as the earliest example of a
printed primer. It presented the
alphabet
An alphabet is a standard set of letter (alphabet), letters written to represent particular sounds in a spoken language. Specifically, letters largely correspond to phonemes as the smallest sound segments that can distinguish one word from a ...
and several
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
prayer
File:Prayers-collage.png, 300px, alt=Collage of various religionists praying – Clickable Image, Collage of various religionists praying ''(Clickable image – use cursor to identify.)''
rect 0 0 1000 1000 Shinto festivalgoer praying in front ...
s.
A Famous Book — "The New England Primer"
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', November 14, 1897
Other historical examples of primers for children include:
* '' The New England Primer'' (1680s)
* McGuffey Readers
The Eclectic Readers (commonly, but informally known as the McGuffey Readers) were a series of graded primers for grade levels 1–6. They were widely used as textbooks in American schools from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century, and ...
(1836) in the US
* ''Bala Potam'' (Lessons for Children, 1850 & 1851) by Arumuka Navalar in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...
* Al-Qiraa Al-Khaldouniya in 1923 by Sati' al-Husri in Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
* Alfudbei Nwe in 1951 by Ibrahim Amin Baldar in Kurdish
See also
* Basal reader
Basal readers are textbooks used to teach reading (process), reading and associated skills to schoolchildren. Commonly called "reading books" or "readers" they are usually published as Anthology, anthologies that combine previously published sh ...
* Hornbook
* Primary education
Primary education is the first stage of Education, formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary education. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first schools and middle s ...
* Grammarians' War
The Grammarians' War (1519–1521) was a conflict between rival systems of teaching Latin. The two main antagonists were English grammarians and schoolmasters William Horman and Robert Whittington. The War involved Latin primers called ''V ...
* Book series
A book series is a sequence of books having certain characteristics in common that are formally identified together as a group. Book series can be organized in different ways, such as written by the same author, or marketed as a group by their publ ...
* Volume (bibliography)
A volume is a physical book. It may be printed or Codex, handwritten. The term is commonly used to identify a single book that is part of a larger collection. Volumes are typically identified sequence, sequentially with Roman numerals, Roman ...
* Collection (publishing)
In the field of Publishing, book publishing, a collection or, more precisely, editorial collection (; ; ; ), is a set of books published by the same publisher, usually written by various authors, each book with its own Title (publishing), title, b ...
References
{{reflist
Primer
Linguistics textbooks