Antonina Machczyńska, *Pobudka*. Short Stories for Adolescents. Parts I–II [1909]

Title: Awakening: Short Stories for Adolescents. Parts I–II.

Author: Antonina Machczyńska (1837–1919) [writer, educator, and educational activist; co-founder of the first women’s teacher training college in Lviv; advocate for women’s education].

Publisher: Lviv, Polish Pedagogical Society.

Year of publication: 1909.

Format: 23 cm.

Volume: 61, 47 pp.

Binding: Paper publisher’s cover.

“Pobudka” is a collection of short stories for adolescents, published in Lviv in 1909 by the Polish Pedagogical Society. This volume combines both parts of the work. The book marks the culmination of the author’s long literary career, during which she had been writing educational literature for young readers since the mid-19th century. Previously, she had published, among other works, *Szkółka wiejska* (1856) and *Powieści dla młodocianego wieku* (1868). At that time, Lviv was the main center of legal Polish education and pedagogical literature under the partitions. Publishing houses run by teachers’ associations supplied school and home reading materials there, and Machczyńska herself helped shape this community for thirty years.

Antonina Machczyńska was born on February 19, 1837, in Płock, the daughter of appellate judge Marceli Apolinary. She was educated at home and at E. Guérin’s boarding school in Warsaw, where Stanisław Jachowicz had a significant influence on her. She made her literary debut with poems in 1854. Her first book, *Szkółka wiejska* (1856), was favorably reviewed by Joachim Lelewel and Aleksander Jełowicki. From 1860 to 1866, she lived in Paris with the Czartoryski family at the Hôtel Lambert and taught Polish language and literature at the local Institute for Polish Girls. In 1871, she co-founded the first women’s teacher training college in Lviv and served as a senior Polish language instructor there until 1900. She founded dormitories and associations supporting women’s education, and from 1913 to 1914 she edited the supplement “Świt dla Kobiet Pracujących” (“Dawn for Working Women”). Her works include “Młoda nauczycielka” (“The Young Teacher,” 1863), “A Glance at Pedagogical and Folk Literature Written by Women in Poland” (1894), and “The Polish Woman” (1912). She died on May 9, 1919, in Kraków.

Provenance: a handwritten dedication in pen on the half-title page. No other ownership marks or stamps.

This is a complete set of both volumes of the late collection of short stories by a pioneer of Polish women’s pedagogy. A valuable item for researchers of youth literature and pedagogical writings, the history of women’s education, and collectors of Lviv educational prints.

The text block is complete but loose—it is coming away from the binding and requires bookbinding repair. The paper exhibits natural yellowing typical of inexpensive educational publications from this period. The paper cover shows signs of wear.

Catalog ID: 13989x1-23-A-X