Tregear, Fairy Tales &Folk-Lore of New Zealand & the South Seas (1891)

Fairy Tales marks the beginning of children's publishing in New Zealand. Blair was particularly interested in education and his store stocked much School Literature. When the Education Act which made attendance at primary school compulsory was passed in 1877, Blair was elected a member of the Mount Cook School committee and later chaired the Wellington Education Board as well as the board of Wellington College and Wellington Girls' High School. He was also the first chairman of the Victoria College Council. Edward Tregear was a regular contributor to Lyon and Blair's Monthly Review and was an active member of Wellington's learned circle in the 1880s and 1890s. His Fairy-tales & Folk-lore along with The Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary (1891), provided the firm with two of their most enduring bestsellers. This copy is signed by Robert Coupland Harding.