Comenio, Janua Linguarum Reserata 1673 Gate of Language. This book is titled “Janua Linguarum Reserata: Sive, Omnium Scientarium & Linguarium Seminarium: Id Est Compendiosa Latinam & Anglicam, aliasque Linguas, & Artium etiam fundamenta addiscendi Methodus: una cum Januae Latinitatis Vestibule”, written by J. A. Comenio [Johann Amos Comenius], and in English, the title reads “The Gate of Languages Unlocked: Or, A Seed-Plot of all Arts and Tongues; Containing A ready way to learn the Latine And English Tongue.” The book was formerly translated by Thomas Horn and corrected and amended afterwards by Joh. Robotham and carefully reviewed by W. D. to which is premised A Portal: and now there is newly added the Foundation to the Janua; containing all, or the chief Primitives of the Latine Tongue, drawn into Sentences, in an Alphabetical Order, by G. P., and it was printed in London by T. R. and N. T. for the Company of Stationers in 1673. Johann Amos Comenius (1592 - 1670) was a Moravian philosopher, teacher and theologian who is considered the father of modern education. He served as the last bishop of the Unity of the Brethren before becoming a religious refugee - he became a target of the Counter Reformation because of the popularity of his book and was forced into exile in Poland - and he was one of the earliest champions of universal education: Comenius introduced a number of educational concepts and innovations including pictorial textbooks written in native languages instead of Latin, teaching based on gradual development from simple to more comprehensive concepts, lifelong learning with a focus on logical thinking over dull memorization, equal opportunity for impoverished children, education for women, and universal and practical instruction. He also believed in the connection between nature, religion, and knowledge, where knowledge is born from nature and nature from God. The Comenius Medal, a UNESCO award honoring outstanding achievements in the fields of education research and innovation, commemorates Comenius. Moravia is now part of the present-day Czech Republic, and besides his native Moravia, Comenius lived and worked in other regions of the Holy Roman Empire, and other countries: Sweden, Poland, Transylvania, England, the Netherlands and Hungary. Comenius was inspired by a Latin-Spanish textbook called Janua Linguarum, published in Salamanca in 1611 by a Hibernian monk named William Bathe (or Bateus), and Janua Linguarum Reserata is in dual languages, with Latin and English side by side, very much like the Rosetta Stone, with writing in Greek and ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, which made it so much easier to translate the hieroglyphics. The book has brown leather boards with dark borders, blank endpapers, the title page, a note “To the Reader”, the first part of the book has sayings in double columns which feature Latin on the left and English on the other side, then more pages devoted “To The Reader”, followed by a long section called “Janua Linguarum Reserata, The Entrie-Door of Languages Unlocked”” in Latin and English, an “Index Vocabulorum” - a vocabulary index - and an “Index Anglicus - an alphabetical index of the words in English - and the whole book is unpaginated (the pages are unnumbered). A blank endpaper at the rear is also inscribed by John Wadsworth in 1683 - he inscribed it several times and wanted people to know it was “his book”. The book is basically a textbook written by Comenius in 1629 and first published in 1631, and it was translated into nearly every European language. In fact, by the 1630's, it was the second most read book in Europe, second only to the Bible. The book measures 6 1/2 x 4 3/8 in. wide and has age wear. The front cover is loose, while the pages are tight, and all the pages are there, with wear at the top and bottom of the spine and at the tips, the pages have brown spots and toning, corner creases, the printing on some pages is very close to the edge at the top - it seems like the pages were’t aligned very well in the printing presses - and there’s brown spots and wear on the paste-downs and endpapers, and still a unique book. There is only one offered online at the rare book website we use and it’s a 1673 edition that goes for $950 in a fine binding, and the book is absolutely worth it. It’s a chance to own a copy of this book by a forward-thinking scholar of the 1600’s - he was way ahead of his time when it came to education and making books more appealing and more suitable for students, and he was thinking about making eduction available for women too, which was unheard of at the time. #230 #4998