Inventing Kindergarten : An Autobiography of Friedrich Froebel

From the Preface: "Froebel\'s opinions, character, and work grow so directly out of his life, that we feel the best of his writing that a student of the Kindergarten system could begin with is the important autobiographical "Letter to the Duke of Meiningen", written in the year 1827. That this is the course Froebel would himself have preferred will, become quickly apparent to the reader. Besides, in the boyhood and the earliest experiences of Froebel\'s life, we find the sources of his whole educational system. That other children might be better understood than he was, that other children might have the means to live the true child-life that was denied to himself, and that by their powers being directed into the right channels, these children might become a blessing to themselves and to others, was undoubtedly in great part the motive which induced Froebel to describe so fully all the circumstances of his peculiar childhood. This translation is made from the edition of Froebel\'s Works published by Dr. Wichard Lange at Berlin in 1862."