Catherine the Great (1762-1796) Ivan Betskoy's (1704-1795) Les Plans et les Statuts des Différents Établissements Ordonnés par sa Majésté Impériale Catherine II. Pour l'Education de la Jeunesse.
Amsterdam: Marc-Michel Rey, 1775.
Two 12mo volumes, translated from Russian to French by Nicolas-Gabriel Clerc; half-title in each; title pages with engraved printer's device; with five folding typographical tables; the two bound in uniform contemporary mottled calf with gilt spines, joints cracked, front board of volume one detached, 6 1/2 x 4 in. (2)
Catherine's vision for education young Russian children of both genders was articulated by Betskoy, who was also inspired by Diderot. "The object aimed at was the creation of 'a new kind of people.' [...] Betskoy opposed a narrow, specialized vocational education (for women as well) and favored a general curriculum, taught by arousing the child's interest rather than by forcing him [or her] to learn by heart. [...] The first concrete application of these principles was tried in the Foundling Homes which Catherine and Betskoy set up in 1764 and 1770. Attached to the Homes were lying-in hospitals to which destitute women were admitted with no questions asked." (Quoted from Isabel de Madariaga's Catherine the Great, Yale University Press, 1991.)
