Old Text Books - Part Three

Throughout the grades we used the Whitcombe Readers which sadly are no longer available.

I still remember some of the stories in them, especially the story of the "Twelve Dancing Princesses".

This story was, in fact, published by the Brothers Grimm, and there is another version of it here.

We also used the Victorian State Education Department's other publications for extra reading material.

These were generally known as "The John and Betty" readers.They are archived in the National Library. I still have one of these books - "Playmates".

It goes without saying that language is dynamic!

The first edition of "Playmates", the one I have, is dated 1952.

Old Text Books - Part One

The first school reader I can remember was the "Tiny Tot's Primer". It was part of a series of readers published by Whitcomes.

I still have it. I have only been able to find any references to it on sites relating to antique books or libraries. There isn't much around at all.

The design and illustrations are very typical of the 1950's. The readers we had were generally passed down by older siblings, or friends.

I don't recall being wasteful in those days. Consumerism was a word that hadn't come into existence yet.