Will Schofield recently shared a whimsical assortment of 1920s covers from Japanese children’s textbooks on his blog, “50 Watts” (formerly “A Journey Round My Skull”).

The series was called Complete Works for Elementary School Students, and though the focus is on nonfiction, a few classic novels are included, like Alice in Wonderland. From Schofield’s blog:

I think the series ran to 80+ books—the NDL has digitized 37 volumes published between 1927 and 1929. The books covered many topics—Western classics, Japanese history, fairy tales, science, religion…. Many volumes were edited, translated, or written by Kan Kikuchi (菊池 寛).

How do you make subjects like engineering and geography appealing to young children? With color, animals, ships, and lots of gold, it seems. A few favorites are in the slideshow below. Who knew Physiology and Hygiene would have such elegant end papers?

Previously, Schofield has showcased covers from Poland in the 1970s and Ireland in the 1930s.