Noah Webster (October 16, 1758 – May 28, 1843) was an American lexicographer, textbook pioneer, English spelling reformer, political writer, editor, and prolific author. He has been called the "Father of American Scholarship and Education. " His blue-backed speller books taught five generations of children in the United States how to spell and read, and made their education more secular and less religious. In the U. S. His name became synonymous with "dictionary," especially the modern Merriam-Webster dictionary that was first published in 1828 as An American Dictionary of the English Language. Considered to be the third-best selling book of all time in America. With its distinctive blue cover, it earned the nickname "the blue-backed speller" and was used over the span of nearly a century.