The Jointed Lath by Seidel, Friedrich - 1890

London: A.N. Myers & Co, 1890. Small quarto. 4 pp + 8ff plates. Seidel's text is translated here by Eleonore Heerwart of the Kindergarten College, and concerns one of Froebel's less-common Kindergarten Gifts. According to Seidel, the jointed lath was considered an independent occupation, and Froebel "placed it after the Plaiting Sticks" in his gifts and occupations. He then observes that one reason for its neglect in the classroom stemmed from the "want of a suitable and cheap apparatus" - a want that the publisher, in a footnote, had evidently solved by making available two meter sticks divided into ten jointed parts for the price of a shilling. The eight plates illustrate the variety of shapes that can be formed with this apparatus, from simple geometric shapes, to architectural structures, to letters of the alphabet. This work is not held in any institutional collection. Cloth-backed printed wrappers show some soiling, a few small wrinkles and tears to front cover. Very good overall.