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I share Joe's feelings about Allen and Greenough. After a bit of hunting, I found that Kennedy's Revised Latin Primer is still in print and available from Blackwells in England. This is a 19th century classic. Kennedy was a headmaster at a public school in Shrewsbury (of Caedfael fame), the same public school where Ronald Knox was a Latin and Greek instructor for a year and a half during WWI just before his reception into the Church. Here are the details of the book: the 'Revised Latin Primer' was itself revised in 1930 by Mountford. It was newly typeset by Longman in 1962 in a new edition, and the 81st impression was published in 2007. The ISBN is 978-0-582-36240-6. I was unable to find copies of it anywhere except at Blackwells (from which one can easily order online). It is an unpretentious and easy to use book. For anything more complete, I would recommend Gildersleeve.



In answer to Jim's question about Collins' Primer of Ecclesiastical Latin, it is not at all suitable as a starter. The work is based on Moreland and Fleischer, a very intensive classical Latin course which is probably the most difficult Latin textbook currently in print. It seems that everyone who does work through Collins, first works through Wheelock. I did that, although I confess that I didn't care much for the book (Wheelock, that is). If you elect to go that route, I would recommend trying to find an earlier version of Wheelock. The current version weighs a ton and is not a big improvement over the earlier versions (the changes consist mainly of (1) adding the imperfect tense early on and (2) increasing the number of vocabulary items per lesson. Although I was given the 5th edition (which is not too heavy although this is because it is printed on newprint) and foolishly purchased the 6th revised (i.e. a revision of the 6th edition), the current, I recommend the first edition or the second (the one I mostly used). The first and second editions differ by the addition of a substantial number of supplementary readings in the second edition. Do not purchase the 4th edition (reviewed as a disaster). I don't know about the third. After working through Wheelock, Collins will be doable, and it is a beautifully, lovingly organized text and also a very useful reference.



Another possibility is Scanlon and Scanlon, particularly since Joe is now posting beautifully presented answers to the exercises. I'm not sure whether S&S are doable without having done Wheelock first. The pace is fast, but the material so much more interesting than Wheelock that it may be doable. It was the authors' intention that the first volume be used as a text by seminary students and lay people who had had no previous Latin.



Sigilai