Citanka pro Ceske Skoly v Americe [Dil II]

New York: Sboru Zastupcu Ceske Svob. Skoly v New Yorku, 1914. Hardcover. First edition; 6 x 8 3/4; pp. [3], 2-160, [2]; cloth spine; brick red pictorial boards; wear along edges of covers; some rubbed and faded spots; front pastedown missing lower corner; front hinge a bit weak; several smudges to corners and margins (not affecting text); penciled-in name of previous owner to first free page; overall in good condition. An early 20th century reader compiled and published by a board of representatives from the Free Czech School in New York specifically for Czech immigrant children in the United States. Large-scale Czech immigration to the US began in the 1840s - sparked by the revolutionary movements at the beginning of the 19th century. Initially settling in Midwestern cities for the cheap farmland available, by the 1870s many of them migrated to New York and specifically the Lower East Side in the area around Tompkins Square. By 1900 the Czech community in New York numbered over 27 000 people. That increase in numbers prompted the construction of schools, churches, and organizations' headquarters, some of which are existing New York landmarks to this day.