HARRIS (Mrs. Jerome).
Tangga Bacha. First Iban Primer.
AN ELEMENTARY IBAN PRIMER
Not just a rare survivor but an unlikely creation: this hand made Iban primer with its handcoloured wrappers, naive illustrations, and perforated paper, is so charming it veers on outsider art.
Mrs Jerome Harris was attached to the Methodist Mission in Nanga Mujong, Sarawak, for whose use this book was produced. The Iban, or Sea Dayaks, are the largest group in Sarawak and indeed all of Brunei.
The book is divided into 26 steps or bachas covering basic concepts each of which is illustrated. At the rear is a page-long discussion, in Iban, of how teachers would draw pictures on the blackboard and use those to teach vocabulary. She then describes how those images were reproduced in this book.
It’s hard to say how many copies might have been produced, perhaps a hundred. Certainly the hand colouring would’ve been pretty labour-intensive in tropical conditions. This is further emphasised by a survival rate which appears to be just this copy.