It is now more than a hundred years since textbooks were first furnished free to the pupils of a public school in this country. The movement began in the administration of city schools and, generally speaking, was confined to cities for many years. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, made provision for free textbooks in its public schools in 1818, and other cities, nearly all in States of the North Atlantic seaboard, followed in the course of the next half-century. Contents of this bulletin include the following: (1) Inception of the Movement; (2) Books for Indigent Pupils; (3) Arguments for Free Textbooks; (4) Arguments against Free Textbooks; (5) Cost of Textbooks; (6) The Practice in States Where the Law Is Permissive and Not Mandatory; and (7) State Laws Providing for Free Textbooks. (Contains 3 footnotes.) [Best copy available has been provided.]