McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader (ABC Books rebuild guide) 11OCT2026

Book 7 of ABC Books: all 138 selections for reading, from Shakespeare and Milton to Patrick Henry and Poe, read in Eloquence

Posted by on 11th Oct 2026

The last of McGuffey's Readers in ABC Books is McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition (1879): all 138 "selections for reading". It's the plum-colored book on the shelf at https://games.503mail.com/abcbooks/, for the oldest readers. It plays like the Fourth and Fifth Readers. The app is rebuilt in the Primer post. Every block has a Copy button.

The book

  • McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition, copyright 1879, from Project Gutenberg #16751 (public domain).
  • 138 selections of essays, speeches, stories and poems: Patrick Henry's speech before the Virginia Convention, Gray's "Elegy in a Country Churchyard", Dickens's "Death of Little Nell", Poe's "The Raven", Irving's "Rip Van Winkle", Shakespeare (Hamlet's soliloquy, Antony over Caesar's body), Milton, Byron and Webster, ending with Coleridge's "Ode to Mt. Blanc". About 7,700 lines in all.
  • Two lessons ("Short Selections in Poetry" and "...in Prose") are collections of six short pieces each.
  • The Gutenberg copy has no DEFINITIONS or questions for this book, so new words are worked out automatically (words not met in any earlier book). 133 lessons have their author from the contents page.

What the converter had to handle

The Fourth and Fifth Reader posts explain the heading mode. This book added:

  • Scanning slips in headings: "XX: THE AMERICAN FLAG." with a colon, and "LVll." with lowercase L's for LVII. Both count now (a lowercase l is read as I).
  • The pieces inside the two collections have their own numbered headings with page numbers ("III. A GOOD NAME. (95)"). A heading with a page number only counts if its numeral is near the current lesson number, so these stay inside their lesson.
  • The lessons start after the chapters on reading aloud, at "I. ANECDOTE OF THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE."
  • Authors come from the contents page; page numbers that the scan stuck onto a name ("Longfellow.290") are removed.
  • Notes about the author come before most selections ("Edward Everett, 1794-1865. He was born at Dorchester...") and are kept as the lesson's "about" text instead of being read aloud (95 lessons).

Add this book to ABC Books

You need the app from the Primer post, with make-book.ps1, make-audio.ps1 and app.js from the Fourth Reader post or newer.

1. Make the lesson file

PC (PowerShell). It prints "138 lessons":

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File C:\ABCBooks\tools\make-book.ps1 -Book sixth1879

2. Record it with Eloquence

PC (PowerShell). About 29,200 recordings per speed, about 45 minutes for both speeds here:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File C:\ABCBooks\tools\make-audio.ps1 -Book sixth1879

Send them to CT 306 (abc-web), then check nothing is missing:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File C:\ABCBooks\tools\push-audio.ps1
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File C:\ABCBooks\tools\check-audio.ps1 -Book sixth1879

3. Put it on the server

PC (PowerShell):

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File C:\ABCBooks\deploy.ps1

Troubleshooting

  • Lessons missing or out of order: run step 1 and read the list. Look a missing number up in source\sixth.txt; a heading the scan garbled (like "XX:" or "LVll.") may need another rule in make-book.ps1.
  • A recording is missing: check-audio.ps1 -Book sixth1879, then run make-audio.ps1 again.
  • The logs and the Tablet check page are in the Primer post.

Notes

  • Known issue: a few author notes run into a second paragraph ("In 1825, Mr. Everett was elected to Congress..."), and that part is still read as the start of the lesson.
  • This book is for the oldest readers; with the shelf showing each kid's own book, younger kids simply won't get here for a while.