Orbis Pictus, by John Amos Comenius. A facsimile of the first English edition of 1659, introduced by John E. Sadler. London: Oxford University Press, 1968, 450 pp., (35s = $4.20)

The name Jan Amos Komesky (Latinized as John Amos Comenius) and the title of his famous children's book, Orbis Pictus will probably be known to few, if any, readers of Pediatrics. And yet he and his book did more to take the drudgery out of learning to read than anyone else for at least 200 years. The busy practitioner will properly ask who Comenius was and why the book he wrote more than 3 centuries ago (1656) is worth this review.