ABC and the Children of Many Nations" -- WWI-era ABC book Promoting International Friendship and Tolerance to Children

Rochester, New York: Stetcher Lith. Co, 1916. Fair. Wrappers detached with modern tape repair. Light soiling.. An illustrated ABC book for early readers, published during WWI to promote international friendship and tolerance to little ones. Each letter is paired with a different nation, and has an accompanying rhyme and an illustration of a child in a representative costume. It ranges from A for American ("A congress of Children We show to you here, American first, For our Country dear") to Z for Zulu ("And now with this Zulu, last shown here in turn, You'll plainly and surely your Alphabet learn"). Note the gentle, and the not so gentle, racial and cultural stereotypes at play in this book. J for Japan, for example, reads, "Japan's little lady Is Yellow of skin. Korea, her playmate, To her is akin". Single vol. (6.75" by 7.5"), pp. [12], illus., in original illus. wrps. with rounded corners.