THE PARROT’S TRAINING AND OTHER STORIES

Rabindranath Tagore, The Parrot’s Training, and Other Stories, Calcutta: Vishva Bharti, 1944

v + 39 pp. with 12 plates including 8 full page plates by Abanindranath Tagore; original pictorial dust wrappers designed by Nandalal Bose.
7.6 x 5 in (19.3 x 12.7 cm)

Scarce 1944 English edition in small format not to be confused with the larger format work first published in 1918. The Bengali original "Totakahini" was published earlier the same year in the famous journal Sabujapatra.

This work is Tagore's famous satire on the futility of education through rote-learning from books - 'parrot-fashion' - then prevalent in India. He was a pioneer of creative education in India and started the school Patha Bhavana at Santiniketan in 1901 with a philosophy of learning with the heart in closeness to nature as opposed to the strict, repetitive and the rote learning system that was common during Tagore's childhood. The humorous drawings are by Tagore's artist nephew Abanindranath Tagore, the founder of the Bengal School of Art.

This lot will be shipped in "as is" condition. For further details, please refer to the images of individual lots as reference for the condition of each book.