ABSTRACT
SINCE 1829 when FrantiŠek PalackÝ drew the attention of his countrymen to the greatness of John Amos Comenius (KomenskÝ) numerous biographies have been written and it would be superfluous to add to their number. The most detailed account in Czech is that of J. V. NovÁk and Josef Hendrich in 1932. There is an excellent study in French by Anna Heyberger in 1928 but the best English biography is entitled That Incomparable Moravian by Matthew Spinka of Chicago in 1934. There is a wealth of material in the collections of Correspondence of A. Patera in 1892 and of Jan Kvačala in 1897 and 1902 and also in the papers of Samuel Hartlib used by G. H. Turnbull in 1947. Comenius wrote an autobiographical defence against the attacks of one Samuel Maresius in 1669 (Continuatio admonitionis) parts of which have been translated into English by R. F. Young in 1932 (Comenius in England). Following the Prague Conference of 1957 on the 300th anniversary of the publication of the Collected Works of Comenius (Opera Didactica Omnia) a popular account was written by FrantiŠek KožÍk and this has been translated into English (Sorrowful and Heroic Life of John Amos Comenius) in 1958 and two novels in Czech have aroused much interest in his story. 1 Nevertheless it is necessary to give a survey of the biographical, historical and bibliographical background to the development of ideas concerning universal education.
