13. PESTALOZZI, Johann Heinrich (1747-1827).
Autograph letter signed "Pestalozzi" about his social experiments in education. [Neuhof], 12 April 1785. 2pp on 31 lines, the main text filling the sheet, with postscript on half of the address leaf (9 5/8 x 7 3/4 inches; 245 x 195 mm). Left edge deckled, remnants of seal still affixed. Condition : top right corner with small loss in blank corner where wax seal was attached, creased where previously folded, slight spotting.
an unusually early letter from the father of modern education, dealing with the first stages of pestalozzi’s social experiments in education, after he opened a school for poor and destitute children on his own estate farm at neuhof . Here he writes to Laue & Co. at Wildegg, informing them that as he is expecting several new pupils in Birr (a nearby village), he hopes that plaster panels can be put into his school before the tables and benches are installed, and asking for a date when this might be done. In a postscript he adds complicated instructions so he can acquire his
"Lebensnothwendigkeit". These humanitarian efforts proved very successful but a financial disaster, and for a time he withdrew from activities to further think out his own philosophy and do some writing. In 1798 he helped to open an orphanage at Stanz for homeless children resulting from the Swiss revolution, and eventually developed a full school of his own at Burgdorf. In 1801 he published his systematic treatise on education and moved his school to a castle at Yverdon in 1805.
Pestalozzi believed in the moral virtue of rural life, and he adapted the teachings of Rousseau to demonstrate that true learning is best from personal experience, not simply memorizing lists of factual knowledge without application: stimulate the mind of a child and the child learns easily, letting them interact by observation and practice. Strict discipline is never a solution, but instead develop a bond between teacher and pupil which will reinforce the learning process. Not only did these ideas influence elementary school systems, but from them developed our modern teacher training programs. His most famous teacher pupil was Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852), who extended these principles into the foundation for today's Kindergarten.
[WITH:] Karl Justus BLOCHMAN. Heinrich Pestolozzi (Leipzig 1846). 8vo (8 ¼ x 5 3/8 inches; 209 x 135mm). lithographic portrait frontispiece and 5 plates. Early cloth-backed boards spine gilt. Condition : plates spotted; spine faded.
first edition . This biography is included as it includes among the six copperplate illustrations a view of the schoolhouse at Birr to which the letter refers.
est. $4000 – $6000
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