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William F. Thayer. The Happy New Year. Boston, C. Stone, 1853.
Affinity
Art, Fun, & Nonsense.
Eliza Horn White. The Strange Year. Boston, New York, Houghton Mifflin Co., c1920.
I don’t know the plot of this book, but the title sums up how I feel about 2019. Here’s to a better 2020.
Josephine Daskum Bacon. The Luck O’Lady Joan. Illustrated by Clara Williams. Chicago, F. G. Browne & co., 1913.
Kate Whiting Patch. Old Lady and Young Laddie. Illustrations by Bertha G. Davidson. Boston, J.H. West company, c1900
Maud Humphrey, Artist with verses by Edith M. Thomas. New York, F. A. Stokes & brother, 1888.
Is it me, or is that cover totally creepy? I think it’s meant to be a 3D example of one of the book’s sweet, cherub-like little girls, but the idea obviously went sideways at some point and never recovered. The child on that cover has dead, cold, unfeeling eyes and looks downright demonic to me. What’s she hiding with that arm behind her back, and why does she appear to be stroking a mustache? She also has an odd, plastic lustre that doesn’t do a thing for her complexion, but it does increase the creep content of her countenance.
I’ve put the book’s three full-colour plates below the fold. They’re charming in that Victorian way, but I do find their over-sized eyes a tad off-puttingly weird. Nothing like the little Demon Queen on the cover, though. She Shines!
Margaret Love Sanderson. Captain Becky’s Winter Cruise. Chicago, The Reilly & Britton Co., 1912.
I think Captain Becky looks decidedly underdressed for a winter cruise, and that hat will fly away with the first breeze.
John Howard Jewett. Little Christmas. Illustrated by Anna Milo Upjohn. New York, F. A. Stokes company. 1906
Anna Burnam Bryant. The Christmas Cat. Illustrated by Edith Browning Brand. Boston, Chicago, The Pilgrim Press, 1902
Clement Clarke Moore. A visit from St. Nicholas, Boston, Published by L. Prang & Co, 1864.
It was a tradition in my family to read this poem every Christmas Eve just before bedtime when I was young. The poem was first published anonymously in 1823, but Moore admitted authorship in 1837. The poem is credited with cementing the idea of Santa Claus and gift-giving into the Christmas traditions of modern times. This is the earliest edition that I was able to locate, and the entire poem is included beneath the fold.
Washington Gladden. Santa Claus on a Lark. New York, The Century co., 1890.
Georgene Faulkner. The Story Lady’s Christmas Stories. Illustrated by Frederic Richardson. Chicago, Daughaday and company, 1916.
If you’re in the mood for some traditional Christmas art, please click-through. I’ve included all of the colour plates from the book.
Charles Dickens. Christmas Stories. Illustrated by Spencer Baird Nicholas. New York, Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1913
Jacob A. Riis. Is There a Santa Claus. New York : The Macmillan Company ; London : Macmillan & Co., Ltd., 1904