New Science of Elocution: The Elements and Principles of Vocal Expression in Lessons, with Exercises and Selections Systematically Arranged for Acquiring the Art of Reading and Speaking

New York: Phillips & Hunt ; Cincinnati: Cranston & Stowe, 1886. First revised edition (no additoinal dates to copyright page; only 1886). Octavo in maroon stamped boards with gilt spine; 382p, including initial section of testimonials A remakably crisp and tight copy; about near fine(-). Very small "Historical Documents of Education Foundation" stamp to front free endpaper; personal owner signature to title page. Hardcover.

A revised and expanded reworking of author's earlier Science of Elocution. A late-Victorian American elocution manual — a descendant of the eighteenth-century mechanical school of Sheridan and Walker, and contemporary of the Delsartean vogue then sweeping the country's schools and lyceums. Hamill's method is the characteristic one of its moment: treat delivery as a science with analyzable components — breathing, articulation, quality and force of voice, pitch, inflection, emphasis, pause, and gesture — drill each through graded exercises, then apply the whole to a large anthology of reading selections. That arrangement made the book useful to normal schools, seminaries, and self-improvers alike, and it stayed in print through the 1880s and beyond (later issues bear the Eaton & Mains imprint). Today its interest is mainly historical: it documents a period when reading aloud was a core civic and pedagogical skill, and when the prosody of English verse and oratory was taught as a set of notatable, teachable physical habits — a tradition that faded fast once silent reading and the microphone changed what a speaking voice was for. -- Sources: Princeton Prosody Archive, Internet Archive. | Self-Help; Education, Oratory