In late February, 1875, Farny traveled east to NY and Philadelphia. While traveling, The Buffalo Commercial reported that Farny, Thomas Moran, and others had furnished drawings for the new McGuffey children’s books and that the illustrations were being engraved. This is the first report I could find that linked Farny to the McGuffey readers, though another article clarified that the images were for the T. W. Harvey written readers, a new line of illustrated kids readers that Wilson, Hinkle & Co. were introducing.
It seems possible that Farny traveled east to deliver his illustrations to be engraved, though the actual publishing occurred in Cincinnati through Wilson, Hinkle, and Co. So if the trip was related to his drawings, it’s not exactly clear how. The trip could also have been related to a different book, Thalheimer’s A History of England, for which Farny illustrated at least twenty-seven images.
The Buffalo Commercial noted that the new readers was in part a response to moves by Scribner, Welford and Armstrong, which had published a new “Sheldon reader” series with illustrations. Both Scribner, etal, and Wilson, etal, were competing against the more successful Harper & Brothers “Wilson” readers.
I have no record of what images were submitted by Farny to McGuffey as of Feb. 1875. Below is the report from the February 2, 1875, issue of The Buffalo Commercial, page 1, column 6:
