Story: Children’s and young adult literature

Edward Tregear

Edward Tregear

Edward Tregear's Fairy tales and folk-lore of New Zealand and the South Seas (1891) was the first children's book published in New Zealand. It was aimed at New Zealand children rather than an English audience. Tregear was an amateur ethnologist, well versed in scholarly European writing on myths and legends. His book does not cover the main Māori myths. Instead it concentrates on tales such as 'The fairy fisherman', a story about fairies teaching Māori to make fishing nets. This is Tregear in later life, relaxing in the garden with his wife Bessie and daughter Vera in the 1920s.

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Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: 1/2-030475-F

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How to cite this page:

Kerryn Pollock, 'Children’s and young adult literature - The 19th century: Māori, settlers and adventures', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/43152/edward-tregear (accessed 29 March 2024)

Story by Kerryn Pollock, published 22 Oct 2014, updated 1 Aug 2016