7McGuffey's Eclectic Spelling Book includes a pictorial alphabet plus 248 individual lessons on spelling, grammar, pronunciation, abbreviation, usage and more. This 1879 revised edition conforms to Webster's International Dictionary, and associates each lesson with some principle of sound, meaning, or accent. The McGuffey Readers are among the best known schoolbooks in the history of American education, having sold more than 120 million copies since the time of their first publication in 1836.