In 1925. Camilo Osias, a U.S. sponsored pensionado, conceived of a primary instructional material for elementary school students. The product of this undertaking are "The Philippine Readers", a 6-volume book series that sought to answer the learning needs of young Filipinos. Published by Ginn and Company in 1932, The Philippine Readers are noted for the illustrations of Fernando and Pablo Amorsolo that acompanied the short stories and poems included in the book.
The books became highly collectible in the 1980s, when antiques shops like "Ilustrado", "Junque" and "Pamana" started carrying them. They cost about 50 Pesos then (with my Php 750 monthly salary, that's quite a sum!), but my copies were found in old libraries, with one even turning up in a Thai used book shop in Bangkok. complete with Chinese notations. Maybe, a local Chinese was trying to learn English the effective Filipino way!
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The book artist, if I am not mistaken is Fernando, if not, Pablo, Amorsolo
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