Origin of the work:
1656 – 1657 Amsterdam
Editions:
1657 Amsterdam, Opera didactica omnia IV
1872 Prague, in: Škola a život 18, pp282-284, 289-302, Czech translation by F. J. Zoubek
1955 Prague, in: Praeceptor gentium. Vychovatel národů, (Latin & Czech; Czech translation by J. Patočka, M. Klučka & F. Heřmanský)
1957 Prague, Opera didactica omnia IV (phototype edition)
1960 Prague, Vybrané spisy J. A. Komenského, vol. II, Czech translation by M. Klučka
Contents:
A discourse on the basis on comparing the school to the printworks, in which Comenius sets out the perfect didactic approach to education. According to Comenius, spreading the light of wisdom in schools should come about through:
1. the delineation of the aims of education;
2. the ensuring of a safe environment; and
3. the establishment of simple and pleasant methods.
Schools should have firm regulations patterned after the Cosmic Order, where perfect orderliness and unison reign. Similarly, Comenius compares the school to a clock with its mechanism and precision, with navigation, agriculture, the arts and construction, where reasoned building would educate people in wisdom, reason, morality and knowledge. Comenius calls upon schools to work like living printworks, in which knowledge would be imprinted into the human spirit much as a printer uses paper, but to powerful effect.
For further study, see also:
J. V. Novák & J. Hendrich, Jan Amos Komenský, jeho života spisy. Prague 1932, p530
Jan Kumpera, Jan Amos Komenský, poutník na rozhraní věků. Prague & Ostrava 1992, p306