through any other source and at present schools cannot be established without such books also that it will enable the association by selling the books for cash to realize an amount sufficient to send after paper which is all important to the association.
The association ordered that 2000 copies of the book be printed.
The Spectator, January 21, 1847, announces that the books will be ready by February. Stitched copies may be obtained for 25 cents and bound ones for the additional tax of the binding. And by February 4, 1847, the book was off the press as the announcement in the Spectator of that date shows. Again the price is stated to be 25 cents for stitched copies and 37½ cents for bound copies. The notice goes on to say that "this little volume reflects great credit upon its printer, Mr. W. P. Hudson. Indeed it is got up in good style and strongly bound, and will be found really serviceable in the cause for which it is intended."
This was the first book in English printed on the Pacific coast. It was five by seven and one half inches, 96 pages, about two thirds the size of the original Webster's spelling book. The binding was done by Carlos W. Shane, who had come to Oregon in the immigration of 1846, and was a book binder by trade.[1]
On October 5, 1846, Fleming had renewed his offer to continue as printer at $1000 a year. At the same time N. W. Colwell submitted a bid of $800 a year. That his offer was immediately accepted is evident as his name appears on the issue of October 15, 1846. Just why Mr. Hudson should have printed the spelling book instead of Colwell is not known, but his skill as a printer must have impressed the association as he was employed in that capacity by the Spectator, May 13, 1847.
After the discharge of Lee the Spectator was conducted by Fleming, the printer, without the services of an editor, from August 20 to September 17, 1846, inclusive. In the issue of October 1, 1846, G. L. Curry's name appears as editor. His
- ↑ Himes, "History of the Press of Oregon," Oregon Historical Quarterly, III, 346-48.
