A Visit from Saint NicholasClement C. Moore wrote "A Visit from Saint Nicholas," better known as "'Twas the Night Before Christmas," as a gift for his children. If an enthusiastic houseguest had not sent the poem to a local newspaper editor, the jolly old elf who traveled by reindeer-drawn sleigh might have enlivened only one family's traditions. The Huntington Library's special edition of A Visit from Saint Nicholas is the first to include replicas of the poem written in Moore's own hand and a facsimile of the original 1869 four-color edition, Visit of St. Nicholas, one of the first American children's books printed in color. This modern reproduction of the two items, both in the Huntington's collections, uses state-of-the-art methods to match the character of the original McLoughlin Brothers edition as closely as possible. Whimsical illustrations by an anonymous 19th-century artist show St. Nick delivering a toy drum, a rocking horse, and Union soldier figurines to the cherubic children asleep in their beds. |
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