Historical Context | ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ป๐ฑ๐๐จ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ฑ๐๐ป๐ฏ๐ฟ๐ ๐ป
Latter-day Saint businessman David O. Calder arrived in New York City in spring 1868 and spent the summer overseeing the publication of the Deseret Alphabet primers, including the Deseret First Book. Compiled by territorial school superintendent Robert Lang Campbell with the help of Henry I. Doremus, the text provided simple, core lessons for literacy training and was only 36 pages long. It was most likely transcribed into the Deseret by apostle Orson Pratt.
The First Book consists largely of brief sentences drawn from everyday frontier life, serving up familiar tableaux like, โThe ox is in the lotโ (p. 11) and, โHow fast the snow falls!โ In one of the few passages tied specifically to time and place in the Mormon settlements, the author highlights local agriculture, proudly noting, โDeseret is a fruit countryโ (p. 32).
