Dr. Montessori's Own Handbook - Restoration ## [Chapter 00 – Dedication, Acknowledgements, Preface](https://montessori-international.com/s/montessoris-own-handbook/wiki/Chapter+00+%E2%80%93+Dedication%2C+Acknowledgements%2C+Preface#chapter-00-%E2%80%93-dedication%2C-acknowledgements%2C-preface) ## [Dedication](https://montessori-international.com/s/montessoris-own-handbook/wiki/Chapter+00+%E2%80%93+Dedication%2C+Acknowledgements%2C+Preface#chapter-00-%E2%80%93-dedication%2C-acknowledgements%2C-preface) To my dear friend Donna Maria Maraini \ Marchioness Guerrieri-Gonzaga who devotedly and with sacrifice has generously upheld this work of education brought to birth in our beloved country, but offered to the children of humanity --- ## [Note By The Author](https://montessori-international.com/s/montessoris-own-handbook/wiki/Chapter+00+%E2%80%93+Dedication%2C+Acknowledgements%2C+Preface#note-by-the-author) As a result of the widespread interest that has been taken in my method of child education, certain books have been issued, which may appear to the general reader to be authoritative expositions of the Montessori system. I wish to state definitely that the present work, the English translation of which has been authorized and approved by me, is the only authentic manual of the Montessori method. The only other authentic or authorized works of mine in the English language are “The Montessori Method,” and “Pedagogical Anthropology.”  --- ## [Preface](https://montessori-international.com/s/montessoris-own-handbook/wiki/Chapter+00+%E2%80%93+Dedication%2C+Acknowledgements%2C+Preface#preface) If a preface is a light that should serve to illumine the contents of a volume, I choose, not words, but human figures to illustrate this little book intended to enter families where children are growing up. I, therefore, recall here, as an eloquent symbol, Helen Keller and Mrs. Anne Sullivan Macy, who are, by their example, both teachers to myself – and, before the world, living documents of the miracle in education. In fact, Helen Keller is a marvelous example of the phenomenon common to all human beings: the possibility of the liberation of the imprisoned spirit of man by the education of the senses. Here lies the basis of the method of education, of which the book gives a succinct idea. If one only of the senses sufficed to make Helen Keller a woman of exceptional culture and a writer, who better than she proves the potency of that method of education that builds on the senses? If Helen Keller attained through exquisite natural gifts an elevated conception of the world, who better than she proves that in the inmost self of man lies the spirit ready to reveal itself? Helen, clasp to your heart these little children, since they, above all others, will understand you. They are your younger brothers: when, with bandaged eyes and in silence, they touch with their little hands, profound impressions rise in their consciousness, and they exclaim with a new form of happiness: “I see with my hands.” They alone, then, can fully understand the drama of the mysterious privilege your soul has known. When, in darkness and in silence, their spirit is left free to expand, their intellectual energy is redoubled, and they become able to read and write without having learned. Almost as it were by intuition, they, only they, can understand in part the ecstasy which God granted you on the luminous path of learning. Maria Montessori --- > Transcriber’s Note in Project Gutenberg Original: > > * Illustrations have been moved closer to their relevant paragraphs. > * The page numbers in the List of Illustrations do not reflect the new placement of the illustrations but are as in the original. > * The list of "didactic material for the *education of the senses*" on pages 18-19 is missing item (j) as in the original. > * The author’s archaic and variable spelling is preserved. > * The author’s punctuation style is preserved. > * Typographical problems have been changed and these are highlighted. > > Transcriber’s Changes in Project Gutenberg Original: > > * [Page vii](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/29635/pg29635-images.html.utf8#TC_0): Was ’marvellous’ \[In fact, Helen Keller is a **marvelous** example of the phenomenon common to all human beings\] > * [Page 46](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/29635/pg29635-images.html.utf8#TC_1): Was ’anvles’ \[which vary either according to their sides or according to their **angles** (the equilateral, isosceles, scalene, right-angled, obtuse-angled, and acute)\] > * [Page 63](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/29635/pg29635-images.html.utf8#TC_2): Added commas \[recognized and arranged in order - do, *re*, **do,** re, *mi*; do, **re,** mi, *fa*; do, **re,** mi, fa, *sol*, etc. In this way, he succeeds in arranging all the\] > * [Fig. 35 caption](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/29635/pg29635-images.html.utf8#TC_3): Was ’si’ \[the spaces which remain where the discs are far apart: do-re, re-mi, fa-sol, sol-la, la-**ti**. 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