FROBEL. - Dr. Adolf DOUAI (1819-1888). The Kindergarten. A Manual. 1871-[c.1880]. 2 editions.

Friedrich Wilhelm August FROBEL (1782-1852)

Dr. Adolf DOUAI (1819-1888). The Kindergarten. A Manual for the Introduction of Froebel’s System of Primary Education into Public Schools; and for the use of Mothers and Private Teachers by … Douai. With 16 Plates. New York: E. Steiger, 1871 [with ownership inscription dated ‘August 1873]. Small octavo (7 ¼ x 4 ¾ inches; 184 x 121mm). Pp. [i-viii; 1]-136; [publisher’s advertisements 1-24]. 16 plates printed in blue, some illustrations in the Advertisement section. (Some light toning, marginal in the main.) Original brown/red cloth, covers blocked in blind, spine blocked in gilt (extremities rubbed, lightly soiled, spotting to endpapers). Provenance: Mrs. C.M. White, Atchison (inscription to front free endpaper).

The first edition of an interesting work by “one of the leading American Marxists of the 19th century as well as a pioneer of the Kindergarten movement in America.” (wikipedia).

[With:]

Dr. Adolf DOUAI (1819-1888). The Kindergarten. A Manual for the Introduction of Froebel’s System of Primary Education into Public Schools; and for the use of Mothers and Private Teachers by … Douai. With 16 Plates. Fourth Edition. New York: E. Steiger, ‘1872’ [but with publisher’s adverts dated October 1880]. Small octavo (7 ¼ x 4 ¾ inches; 184 x 121mm). Pp. [i-viii; 1]-136; “Publisher’s Advertisements” [1-]2-36[-40;1-]4[-8]. 16 plates printed in blue, numerous small illustrations in the Advertisement sections. (Light overall toning.) Original brown/red cloth, covers blocked in blind, spine blocked in gilt (affected by damp, extremities rubbed, spotting to endpapers). Provenance: Marion A. Patrick (Victor, Iowa, ownership inscription to front free endpaper).

The fourth edition of the same work: with the exception of the title, the text is printed from the same setting as the first. The advertisements are different and have been expanded substantially: a total of 48 pages instead of 24. The provenance is interesting: Marion Patrick’s family were well established in Victor. Her father, for example, served as mayor. Marion would probably have been in her late teens or early twenties when she acquired this book – was she, perhaps, a school teacher?

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