Hrvatska čitanka za prvi i drugi razred viših trgovačkih škola

The Croatian Textbook for the First and Second Grades of Higher Commercial Schools is an official textbook prepared by Dragutin Prohaska (1881–1964), then a young literary historian, critic and pedagogue from Osijek, who later became a well-known Slavic scholar and author of several textbooks.

The book is intended for students in the first two years of higher commercial schools (commercial academies) during the Austro-Hungarian period. It contains carefully selected literary texts in the Croatian language — prose, poetry, essays and excerpts from the works of Croatian writers, with an emphasis on those suitable for the education of future merchants and business people.

The textbook includes classical and contemporary authors of the time, with sections on poetry, epic and lyrical genres, metrics, composition and examples from Croatian literature. In addition to literature, it also contains texts on topics from the economy, business and general culture (e.g. on the Czech economy), which reflects the practical orientation of commercial education. Prohaska chose the texts with pedagogical consideration — the language is literary and accessible, and the content cultivates national consciousness, moral values, and aesthetic taste.

This is an official, authorized edition that testifies to the development of Croatian education and language policy at the beginning of the 20th century. Today, the book is a rare antiquarian value. Copies in good condition (especially with preserved covers and school stamps) are sought after by collectors of old textbooks, Croatian pedagogy, and literature of the 19th/20th centuries. It represents an important document in the history of education in Croatia during the Austro-Hungarian monarchy.