# The book every Romanian touched

The primer · 1868–1989. Checked 20 September 2026.

For 41 years, every child in Romania learned to read from the same book.

## 1868: the first modern primer

In Iași, Ion Creangă and five fellow teachers publish *Metodă nouă de scriere și
cetire pentru uzul clasei I primară* — the first modern Romanian primer in Latin
script (after Cyrillic was discarded, 1862). The letter model: “Creangă's
Alphabet”, an English-roundhand derivative.

## 1924: seven years of school

The 26 July 1924 law takes compulsory school from 4 to 7 years, with a single
curriculum. From 1924–1925: over 560,000 more primary children, over 730,000
adults in courses.

## 1948–1989: the single textbook

Decree 175/1948: single textbooks and curricula, on the Soviet model. 41 cohorts
in a row learn from the same book (EDP editions: 1959, 1966, 1972, 1976, 1982,
1983, 1986, 1987). From 4th grade: compulsory Russian.

## The verdict

Between 1868 and 1948 the books changed with the regimes; between 1948 and 1989,
41 cohorts learned from the single textbook.

## Sources

Primarium (Romania), Wikipedia (Ion Creangă), Acta Musei Tutovensis IX–X,
Studia UBB, IICCMER Yearbook vol. 11, UNIBUC. Unverified: print runs, interwar
titles, the rooster as a verified scan.