Sandra and Susan-- The reference to the American Girls Book reminded me of two related volumes: _The American Boy's Handy Book_ by Dan Beard (1882) and _The American Girls Handy Book_ by Lisa and Adelia Beard (1887). The authors are siblings, and Dan Beard will be remembered by Twain afficionados as the illustrator of _Connecticut Yankee_. Despite the anti-capitalism of those illustrations, he went on to be influential in the founding of the Boy Scouts of America, which this _Handy Book_ dovetails with nicely. Not a schoolbook, I know, but perhaps relevant. LH