The Discovery of the Child.

MONTESSORI, Maria. Translated by Mary A. Johnstone.

Item Number: 101564

India: Kalakshetra, 1948.

First revised and enlarged edition of the fundamental text on the Montessori method. Large octavo, original cloth, engraved frontispiece portrait of Maria Montessori. Association copy, signed by Maria Montessori and her son Mario Montesorri on the half title page. With an original photograph of Montesorri signed by her affixed to the verso of the frontispiece and an original photograph of her son Mario and daughter-in-law signed by Mario laid in. From the library of Raja Shamraj Rajwant Bahadur with his ownership inscription to the front free endpaper which reads, “S.R.A.S. the Deccan Book Stall Parma, Purchased: 2-2-1949 Author’s Autograph (on following page).” Indian nobleman Raja Shamraj Rajwant Bahadur assembled India’s greatest library, famed for its diverse collection of rare antiquarian manuscripts and important books. In very good condition. Rare and desirable.

The eponymous educational methods developed by the famed Italian physician and educator Maria Montessori emphasized independence, freedom within limits, and respect for the child to promote their natural psychological, physical, and social development. In 1939, the Theosophical Society of India extended an invitation to the 69-year-old Montessori. She accepted and soon made Adyar, Chennai her home where she lived with her son, Mario and taught her first students, Gool Minwala, Tehmina Wadia and Khurshed Taraporewala. In 1940, when India entered World War II, Montessori and her son were interned as enemy aliens in India. Maria was authorized to continue her training courses for the following seven years of internment and created a strong base for her method in India.