Antique 1926 Enid Blyton The Teacher’s Treasury Vol I Illustrated Teacher’s Book

Antique 1926 Enid Blyton The Teacher’s Treasury Vol I – Illustrated Teacher’s Book

The Teacher’s Treasury – Volume I

Edited by Enid Blyton N.F.U.

Introduction by T. Percy Nunn, M.A., D.Sc.

The Home Library Book Company / George Newnes Ltd., London

Circa 1926

A wonderfully evocative early Enid Blyton publication and a fascinating survivor from the world of British childhood and education between the wars.

The Teacher’s Treasury was conceived not simply as a children's storybook, but as a practical and inspirational resource for teachers of young children. Edited by Enid Blyton and combining stories, movement, music, nature study and classroom activities, it provides a remarkable glimpse into changing attitudes towards childhood and education during the 1920s.

Volume I of the work was first published in 1926 by The Home Library Book Company, George Newnes Ltd., as part of a three-volume set. Contemporary library cataloguing records Volume I as comprising preliminary pages plus 246 numbered pages, illustrated in both colour and black and white.

This example is bound in its handsome original dark blue cloth with an elaborate blind-stamped geometric design to the front board and gilt THE TEACHER'S TREASURY lettering. The spine is similarly decorated and bears the titles Enid Blyton, Vol. I and Newnes in gilt.

Enid Blyton before the Famous Five

What makes this book particularly appealing is its place very early in Enid Blyton's career.

Long before she became one of the most recognisable names in twentieth-century children's literature, Blyton trained as a teacher. In 1916 she enrolled on a Froebel-based teacher-training course at Ipswich High School, completing her training in 1918. Her first book, Child Whispers, appeared in 1922, placing The Teacher's Treasury of 1926 firmly within the formative years of her publishing career.

The N.F.U. following Blyton's name on the title page reflects this educational background and her National Froebel Union training. The National Froebel Union had been established to provide qualifications and standards for Froebel teacher training, an approach which placed considerably greater emphasis on the development and activity of the individual child.

It makes this a rather different piece of Blyton history from the adventure novels for which she subsequently became famous.

A fascinating piece of educational social history

The introduction is by the distinguished educationalist T. Percy Nunn, then Professor of Education at the University of London.

Nunn was one of the influential figures in British educational thinking of the period. He became Principal of the London Day Training College in 1922 and advocated an approach concerned with the development of the whole child and individual personality rather than education based solely around rote learning.

The introduction in this very volume even discusses Dr Maria Montessori, individual work and the importance of stories, dancing, singing and acting in children's education.

It is this context that makes The Teacher's Treasury such an interesting historical document. It catches British education at a point when teachers and educational thinkers were reconsidering how young children should learn.

Contents of Volume I

The volume is divided into three principal sections.

Section I – Stories

A substantial collection of stories arranged partly around the school year, including titles such as The Runaway Hat, The Yellow Trumpets, The Fairy Kitten, The Magic Easter Egg, The Disobedient Bunny, When Mother Lost Her Purse, The Lost Wishing Cap and Santa Claus Makes a Mistake.

Several stories originating in The Teacher's Treasury subsequently reappeared in later Enid Blyton collections, further adding to the interest of these early versions. The Enid Blyton Society, for example, traces The Disobedient Bunny, The Yellow Trumpets, The Brownie Who Thought He Was Clever and The Lost Wishing Cap back to this 1926 volume.

Section II – Rhythm and the Dance

A particularly evocative section dealing with rhythmic movement and classroom activity, including clapping, tapping, marching, skipping, rocking and swaying exercises together with children's dances.

Section III – Nature Notes

An extensive nature-study section covering birds, animals, flowers and the changing seasons. Subjects include winter birds, snowdrops, frogs, violets, crocuses, primroses, rabbits, snakes, goats, dogs, butterflies, dandelions, kingfishers, spiders, squirrels and robins.

Together the three sections offer a lovely snapshot of what progressive early-years teaching could encompass almost a century ago.

Illustrations and plates

A particularly attractive feature of this copy is its illustrated content.

All of the listed plates are present.

Among them is the lovely colour frontispiece:

“The Kingfisher: Waiting and Watching” – after the painting by Philip Rickman

The contents also list the colour plates:

“Redcap Used to Talk to His Friends” – after the painting by Ernest Aris

and

“The Water-Vole” – after the painting by Warwick Reynolds

alongside nature photographs and numerous charming black-and-white illustrations throughout the text.

The illustrations themselves are a delight and considerably enhance the book's appeal as both a collector's item and a piece of childhood social history.

An interesting feature of the original binding

At several points within the book — including between pages 4/5, 86/87 and around the illustrated material at 214/215 — narrow strips of paper can be seen at the inner margin.

At first glance these can look rather like remnants left after a page has been removed. However, importantly, the pagination remains continuous and the relevant plates are still present.

These are consistent with guards or stubs used as part of the original method of binding separately printed illustrations into the book, rather than evidence of missing text leaves.

We have deliberately mentioned this both for accuracy and to reassure a future owner that these curious little strips are part of the book's construction and should not be pulled or removed.

Condition

This is an approximately 100-year-old working educational book and its condition reflects a long and genuine life.

The original dark blue cloth boards display considerable age-related wear, including pronounced pale mottling and staining, particularly to the rear board, together with rubbing and wear around the edges, corners and spine extremities.

Despite this, the attractive blind-stamped decoration remains clearly visible and the gilt titles to both the front and spine retain a particularly pleasing presence.

Internally there is age-related toning, foxing and spotting, particularly to the endpapers and margins, together with occasional marks commensurate with age and use.