The Harrowed Toad or The Pedagogue's Plaint
London: J M Dent and Sons, 1939.
First Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. Good with no dust jacket. Item #10052
Library stamps/marks/labels/pocket, cocked, spine darkened and cloth sunned, tone, some gutter cracking, wear. Still serviceable and solid hardcover.; Collection of engaging education-related essays/stories by New Zealand teacher and writer. "From the age of about 35, writing as ‘Old Timer’ in National Education, the journal of the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI), he published short stories illustrating the constraining effects of primary schooling on children who did not fit the norm of a good pupil. Some of these were later collected in The Harrowed Toad, or, The Pedagogue’s Plaint (1939), Little Ann & what to do with her (1940), and Half Lengths of Pupils & People (1944). His leading ideas were expressed in ‘Little Ann’, one of his best-known stories: ‘Would human nature reach a fuller, fairer growth, blossom more beautifully, bear fruit more abundantly, if we paused in the midst of all our aspiring and striving to water the roots of the affections?’" - William Renwick; Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Combs' uncommon first book. ; Ex-Library; vii, 148 pages.
Price: $49.95