Gymnastik für die Jugend. Enthaltend eine Praktische Anweisung zu Leibesübungen. Ein Beytrag zur nöthigsten Verbesserung der körperlichen Erziehung by GUTS MUTH, Johann Christoph Friedrich

Engraved frontis. & ten engraved plates (one folding). xviii, [18], 663, [1] pp. (subscribers' list misbound at end). Small thick 8vo, cont. half-calf & marbled boards (spine a bit rubbed, occasional unimportant dampstaining), pink & green pigskin lettering pieces on spine. Schnepfenthal: im Verlage der Buchhandlung der Erziehungsanstalt, 1793. First edition of the author's first and best-known work; it is a "great classic that formed the basis of modern physical education...the first manual published by a practical physical educator...Ch. 6 to 15 are devoted to different physical exercises: high jumping, pole vaulting, jumping across a ditch; throwing a wooden discus, archery; running, skipping rope; wrestling; walking on the balance beam, balancing rods on the fingers; lifting, carrying, pulling; going up and down a rope ladder, swinging on vertical ropes, climbing a mast; dancing, skating and long walks; bathing and swimming. Ch. 17 and 18 deal with declaiming and exercises of the senses: reading out loud so as to be heard by a person stationed at various distances and estimating distance with the naked eye. The final chapters are on manual labour and training."-Hagelin, Kinetic Jottings, pp. 104-05. Guts Muth (1759-1839), was a teacher at a school in Schnepfenthal, at the foot of the Thuringian forest. A small court among the oak trees was prepared for the daily lessons in gymnastics. The charming and well-engraved plates depict equipment and the boys performing the various exercises. Fine copy.