ABSTRACT
Of the numerous references to literary anthologies in The Newbolt Report, probably the most conspicuous comes in the closing lines. Stressing the centrality of the King James Bible in literary education, while recognising obstacles to its routine classroom usage, the peroration commends ‘books of literary extracts in which selected passages from the Bible find a place beside other examples of great literature’. This chapter considers three such anthologies. All appeared in the decade after Newbolt, and all were edited by members of Newbolt's Committee. As such, these anthologies can be viewed as enacting certain of the Report's recommendations, and extending its reach into the classroom and beyond. Three principal claims will be made with reference to these anthologies: 1) that they are pedagogic constructs that use sequence and juxtaposition to shape certain relationships between textual extracts; 2) that they are a significant intervention in the debate on post-war library provision and 3) that they did much to extend the reach and influence of the Report into the classroom practice and reading habits of subsequent decades.
