Olympia-2015

PESTALOZZI’S EPOCH-MAKING WORK, WITH THE RARE FRONTISPIECEPORTRAIT88. PESTALOZZI, Johann Heinrich. Wie Gertrud ihre Kinder lehrt, einVersuch den Muttern Anleitung zu Geben, ihre kinder selbst zu unterrichten, inBriefen von Heinrich Pestalozzi. Bern and Zurich, Heinrich Gessner, 1801.8vo, pp. [ii], 390; with the engraved frontispiece of the author; light foxing in places,otherwise a clean crisp copy throughout, in contemporary polished half sheep,spine blocked in blind, boards a little rubbed and dust-soiled, light wear toextremities; with contemporary inscription in ink on front free endpaper, signed‘Holterbach’. £5000First edition containing an exhaustive exposition of Pestalozzi’s principles ofeducation and the book on which Pestalozzi’s fame rests. ‘How Gertrude teachesher children’ proclaimed something entirely new in the field of popular education -the principle of self-activity in acquiring and using knowledge in its first stages.The most important and forward-looking of his ideas, which he stressed continuallyin practice as well as precept, was that the true method of education is to developthe child, not to train him as one trains a dog. The pupil must be regarded as moreimportant than the subject and the ‘whole man’ must be developed.BIRTH CONTROL BY CONTRACEPTION89. PLACE, Francis. Illustrations and proofs of the principle of population:including an examination of the proposed remedies of Mr. Malthus, and a replyto the objections of Mr. Godwin and others. London, [Spottiswode] for Longmanet al., 1822.8vo, pp. xv, [1] blank, 280; with tables to text; light spotting to a couple of quires,but a very clean, crisp copy, in contemporary speckled calf, blind-rolled borders toside, rebacked preserving the morocco lettering-piece, end-papers renewed; edgeslightly rubbed. £4250First edition of the first book to argue for birth control by contraception, theonly book written by the radical reformer friend of James Mill and JeremyBentham.Through David Ricardo, Place had received a copy of Robert Malthus’ Essay, andreplied to Godwin’s attacks against Malthus. Ricardo received the proofs of thiswork in September 1821; it was published the following year. More sanguine thanMalthus about the reform of the institutions, Place rejected Godwin’s inconsistencyand defends Malthusian principles. Place launched the first ‘neo-Malthusian’campaign for contraception and in 1824-5 he was the organising force behind thesuccessful effort to legalise trade unions. ‘Place carried the Malthusian theory toits logical conclusion by advocating birth control, and it is noteworthy that, just asMalthus’ predictions of the turn of future events proved false, so subsequentgenerations have reversed the practical consequences of his policies, and declaredin favour of the main tenets of the critics’ (Smith, The Malthusian Controversy, p.329).