Orbis Pictus
Orbis
Pictus, or Orbis Sensualium Pictus
(Visible World in Pictures), is a textbook for children written by Czech educator John Amos Comenius
and published in 1658. It was the first widely used children textbook with
pictures, published first in Latin and German and later republished in many European
languages. The revolutionary book quickly spread around Europe and became the
defining children's textbook for centuries.
The
book is divided into chapters illustrated by copperplate prints,
which are described in the accompanying text. In most editions, the text is
given in both Latin and the child's native language. The book has
150 chapters and covers a wide range of subjects:
History
Originally
published in Latin and German in 1658 in Nuremberg, the book soon spread to schools in Germany and other
countries. The first English edition was published in 1659. The first quadrilingual edition (in Latin, German, Italian and French) was
published in 1666. The first Czech translation was published in the 1685 quadrilingual edition
(together with Latin, German and Hungarian),
by the Breuer publishing house in Levoča. In the years 1670 to 1780, new editions were published in
various languages, with upgraded both pictures and text content.
Orbis
Pictus had a long-lasting influence on children's
education. It was a precursor of both
audio-visual techniques and the lexical approach in language learning.
In
1930 Otto Neurath
claimed that images in Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft constituted a new Orbis
Pictus.
References
· Epstein, Connie C. (1991). The
Art of Writing for Children.
Archon Books. p. 2. ISBN 0-208-02297-X.
· · http://iconics.cehd.umn.edu/OrbisSensualiumPictus/Lecture/default.html Orbis Sensualium Pictus Lecture
·
Neurath, Otto (1930). Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft. Vienna: Gesellschafts-
und Wirtschaftsmuseum. p. 101.
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