John Amos Comenius is known as the father of the modern picture book. He was born in Eastern Europe in 1592 and served as a bishop in the Church of the Brethren. In 1651, he took over the running of a grammar school and devised to write this book "which even the most unlettered child could use and one which would facilitate the work of the most unskilled pedagogue." Comenius believed that pictures could introduce students to objects through their senses, then to the words that gave meaning to those objects. It was his belief that the learning of language would lead to the reform of society, the unification of the churches, and ultimately world peace -- a theory he called pansophy. In 1856, he sent the manuscript of his book to Nuremberg where it was published two years later with 150 woodcuts carefully worked out by Michael Endter from the designs of Paul Kreutzberger. It ultimately became the most popular schoolbook in all of Europe. It continued to be published well into the 19th century with the final known edition published in 1845. Since then, there have been several facsimiles of the first English edition published.
Historical Children's Literature Collection
