In August 1879 the leadership of The Union: “A School with the Bible,” sent out a circular letter (34cm.) to all the correspondents of the local committees (cf. 1878.06) who had taken part in the People’s Petition (see 1878.04). The subject of the circular letter was the first annual collection for the union. A total of 447 local committees had taken part in the collection for in 1878. The circular letter reminded its readers about the planned collection of August 17, 1879 and provided information about how to organize it. Also included in this circular letter were four encouraging articles (three asterisms and a main article) about the collection, which had been previously printed (with minor variations) under the title De collecte van 17 Augustus [The collection of August 17] in De Standaard 8 (1879), no. 2256, August 1, 1879–no. 2261, August 7, 1879.

The collection was held on August 17 because on that day in 1878 King William III signed the challenged primary education bill into law. This first national collection yielded approximately ƒ40,000.- while the fourth collection (1882) resulted in more than ƒ100,000.- (cf. De Standaard, no. 3301, December 20, 1882).

The print run of the circular letter was probably about 1,500 copies.