Christmas Gift Books
Personal new year messages have been found in Egyptian tombs from as early as the 6th century B.C. The earliest ready-made greetings were probably sold in Rome in the first century A.D., and the first mass-produced souvenir copies of an original greeting may have been the coin struck by the director of the mint for the Emperor Hadrian (r. 117-138 A.D.) The earliest known Christmas gift books appear to have been printed by the Daniel Press some nine years after the introduction of the modern Christmas card. These were Christmas: A Vigil by C. J. C. (Charles James Cruttwell) printed in 1951, and Sir Richard's Daughter: A Christmas Tale of the Olden Times by Wilson Clement Cruttwell, issued in 1852.
There are several categories of Christmas gift books. Among these are (1) Christmas gift books designed and printed by private presses using the best of the book arts--elegant and unusual typography, fine papers, and special bindings--are intended to be given to friends, customers and business associates at the holidays. These are limited edition, single issue publications that may contain poetry, philosophy, short fiction, sermons, essays or facsimiles of important literary works, sometimes with a Christmas or winter theme; (2) Christmas Gift Books sold to support the favorite charities of royalty; (3) Christmas gift books with a christmas or holiday theme that are specifically designed to be sold at the holiday season.
The Special collections of the FSU Libraries house over a thousand representative items in the Christmas Gift Book Collection. Among the more unusual are a last will and testament of a vagrant, a book of rejections received by famous writers for well-known published works, a foldout of the Vasalian muscle-men, a miniature issue of the first issue of Life Magazine, the actor Richard Burton's first published book, A Christmas Story, and "The Fornicator's Court," a poem by Robert Burns.
Christmas gift books are also known as keepsakes, remembrances, or Christmas greetings. For more information on season's greetings and Christmas gift books, see (1) Two Thousand years of Seasons Greetings: An Album of Holiday Cards and their Predecessors, New York: Appleton, Parsons & Company, 1951; and (2) A Bibliographical Checklist of Christmas Books, ed. By Walter Klinefelter, Portland, ME: Southworth-Antherson Press, 1937. The staff encourages additions to this collection.
Christmas gift books were sponsored by Royalty to raise funds for a favorite charity. Each has a portrait or photograph of the sponsor. Queen Alexandra's book is a collection of photographs she took over several years, and the others contain original art, poetry and prose produced by well-known contributors such as Rudyard Kipling, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Mickey Mouse.
Queen Alexandra, (1844-192) was the daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark and later the consort of Edward VII, King of Great Britain, and the mother of King . She was beautiful and elegant but artless and childlike, having been raised in obscurity and simplicity. She was not a good fit for her husband Edward VII, a notorious philanderer who preferred the company of witty women. Her Hanoverian in-laws were related through Edward's sister, Victoria, the Empress of Prussia, to a nation that annexed half her father's kingdom. Alexandra clung to her eldest son, Prince Edward, who was implicated in homosexual scandals, and was suspected by Stowell (Criminologist, Nov. 1970) to be Jack the Ripper.
Princess Mary was the daughter of King George V of England, sister to King Edward VIII and King George VI, and later the very happily married Vicountess Lascelles. Her life story reads like that of a fairy tale princess. She was heavily influenced by her mother Mary's example of selfless charity and immersed herself in the war effort and later in numerous charitable causes. As the Princess Royal, she held many important positions, among them Commandant of the Girl Guides and Colonel-in-chief of the Royal Scots.
Lady Asquith (1887-1960), was the third child of the Earl of Wemyss, daughter-in-law to Prime Minister Asquith, and aunt-in-law to Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond. She was so beautiful that McEvoy, Sargent and Augustus John painted her for free, "for love." Lady Asquith was detached from herself but vitally concerned with others. Her oldest son had then-undiagnosed autism. Lady Asquith edited numerous outstanding children's books including ghost stories, humorous books, and poetry, and she wrote an intimate authorized biography of Queen Elizabeth, wife of George VI.
Christmas gift books with secular themes cover any and all subjects. Writers such as Chaucer, Voltaire, Thoreau, and Hawthorne are common, as are discussions of libraries, rare books and type fonts. Facsimiles and reprints of both classic and virtually unknown writings are common.
Dobie, J. Frank. James Bowie, Big Dealer. 1957
Mr. and Mrs. Dobie introduced this reprint of Dobie's article from the Southwestern Historical Quarterly 60:3 (January 1957) with an acknowledgment that Jim Bowie "is not remotely related to Christmas," and offer their wish for "a nobler set of heroes" for Texas.
Flaubert's ABC: Thirty-five of the nine hundred entries in the Dicionnaire des Idees Recues. Trans. By Jacques Barzum. 1953.
Printed for the friends of J. Laughlin and New Directions, this small extract also served to advertise the full translation by Barzun
Irving, Washington. The Vindication of Christmas: Pages from the Notebook of Washington Irving. 1961.
This Christmas greeting for the friends of Cornelia and Waller Barret consists of text taken from Irving's holograph mss. in the Barret Library at the University of Virginia which he in turn transcribed from a rare mss. in the British Library. A facsimile page of the holograph mss. and a portrait of Irving are included. In this piece, christmas supports an alcoholic Christmas and find Puritans lacking in charity.
A Letter from Sir Thomas More to Conrad Goclenius (London 1522). Trans. By Robert Samuel Rogers with a note by Elizabeth Francis Rogers. Madison, NJ: Golden Hind Press, 1949.
More, who met Goclenius through Erasmus, accepted the dedication of Goclenius' translation of Hermotimus by this letter (and its accompanying cup full of gold coins). A beautiful reproduction of Holbein's portrait of More and the English translation accompanies the facsimile of the latin mss. in the Archives generales du Royaume, Brussels. Hand set in Centaur type, 250 copies were printed by hand by Arthur (who signed it) and Edna Rushmore using Archer paper. The cover is elegantly marbled.
Shahn, Ben. A Partridge in a Pear Tree. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1967.
First printed in 1949, Shahn uses contemporary typography and illustrations with historic text and provides explanations--for example, "calling birds" were originally "cowlie" birds, "collied" birds being coal-black. The musical score, also by Shahn, uses shaped notes.
Stevenson, Robert Louis. A Christmas Sermon.
Limited to 245 copies printed for George A. Nelson in 1928 as a Christmas Greeting, this sermon was written in 1888 as a "leavetaking" after writing for Scribner's for twelve months.
Thoreau, Henry David. House-warming and Winter Visitors. From Walden or life in the Woods. 1936.
Signed by Richard Ellis, who designed and arranged the type, this lovely piece uses deckle-edge paper with elegant water marks and is covered in beautifully marbled paper.
Weems, Rev. M. L. An Anecdote from the Life of George Washington. From the History of that Very Extraordinary Man. Madison, NJ: Golden Hind Press, 1932.
Set by hand in Weiss Antiqua, printed (and signed by) Arthur Rushmore on a Washington hand-press, this little book was "happily calculated to furnish a feast of true Washingtonian entertainment and improvement printed in this Bicentennial year of Washington's birth."The anecdote is the story of George and the cherry tree, and includes a bicentennial ½-cent stamp featuring George Washington pasted in.
Wright, David McCord. Business and the Radical Indictment. York, PA: The Maple Press Company, 1945.
This "case for capitalism" is a reprint from the Harvard Business Review (Summer 1945). It was designed by Howard King, and printed using hand-set 14-point Bembo type. The unusual initials and decorative bands were were designed by Valenti Angelo. Copy 245 of 900.
Christmas gift books with sacred or moral themes include works by C.S. Lewis, Peter Marshall, and Henry Van Dyke, among others. Various sections of the Bible are also used, including Daniel, Matthew and Luke.
The Sermon on the Mount, Being the Fourth, Sixth and Seventh Chapters of the Gospel According to St. Matthew in the King James Version of the Holy Bible. Chicago, Il: Monastery Hill Bindery, Hertzberg-New Method, Inc., 1968.
Design, typography and printing by Norman Forgue. The text for this book was entirely set by hand using Linotype Fairfield and Goudy Deepdene types. Three color negatives were made for the simple blue, gold and black decorative motifs, and copies were printed on paper hand-made specifically for this publication.
Chesterton, Gilbert Keith. A Christmas Song for Three Guilds.
Printed at Christmas 1947 by Mr. and Mrs. George Arents. G. K. Chesterton was a somewhat controversial writer. He was "master of the paradox...wrote the best appraisal of Charles Dickens...[was] creator of Father Brown, detective extraordinary," and author of numerous ballads and a large number of poems based upon religious and especially Christmas themes. The Arents's expressed intent in presenting this book was to encourage craftsmen to take pride in their work. This example, one of 435 copies in the limited edition, is beautifully bound in gold-trimmed red leather and a complementary marbled paper.
Fitzgerald, Edward. A Coventry Carol.
Printed by Mr. and Mrs. Arents as a Christmas Greeting, this beautiful example of the binder's art, one of only 400 copies, it includes a history of the carol, a facsimile of the poem and a facsimile of the music written in 1937 by Dr.Tertius Noble, then organist at St. Thomas Church. Written by Fitzgerald when he was "in tune with the simple faith of his neighbors" and in love with Caroline Matilde, the devout daughter of the Vicar of Bredfield, this carol precedes his "inspired and lyrical" translation of the "glittering cynicism of the Rubaiyat."
Marshall, Peter. Lets Keep Christmas: A Sermon by Peter Marshall. Introduction by Catherine Marshall. Illustrated by Barbara Cooney. NY: McGraw-Hill, 1952.
Van Dyke, Henry. Even Unto Bethlehem: The Story of Christmas. 1961.
This limited edition was privately printed for the friends of Frank D. Fortney by the Aldus printers, New York, Christmas 1961.
Conner, Ralph. The Angel and the Star. New York: Fleming H. Revell 1908.
Crampton, Gertrude. The Golden Christmas Book. Illus. By Corinne Malveen. New York: Simon & Shuster, 1947. (Donated by Louise Richardson)
A story book for children with recipes, music, activities, poetry, and colorful illustrations.
De Leon, T. C. Cross Purposes. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1871 '; and Cross Purposes, A Christmas Experience in Seven Stages. Mobile, AL: Gossip Print Co., 1888.
Two editions of a story about a double elopement where one groom was jealous of the other.
Dickens, Charles. A Christmas Carol.: A Ghost Story of Christmas. Illustrated by John Leach. London: Pan Books Ltd. Reprinted 1946.
Dickens, Charles. The Chimes: A Goblin Story. New York: Books, Inc. <n.d.>
Guerney, Clara F. The Herman and the Figure-head: A Christmas Story. 1st ed. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1871.
Howello, W. D. Christmas Every Day and Other Stories. 1st ed. New York: Harper & Bros., 1893.
Kent, Rockwell. A Northern Christmas. New York: American Artists Group, 1941.
Mathew & Luke Christ Child. (Made by Maude & Misha Petersham). Garden City: Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1931.
Moore, Clement Clark. The Night Before Christmas. Illus. By Meg Wohlberg. New York: Crown Pub., 1944.
Peterkin, Julia. A Plantation Christmas. Decorations by David Hendrickson. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. <n.d.>
Rayford, Julian Lee. The First Christmas Dinner. Mobile, AL: Rapier House, 1947.
Raymond, Louise. Child's Story of the Nativity. Illustrated by Masha. New York: Random House, 1943.
Stern, Philip Van Doren. Greatest Gift. Illus. By Raffaella Busini. Philadelphia: David McKay Co., 1944.
Stork, T. A Christmas Book for Children. Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakistan. <n.d.>
Stuart, Ruth McEnery. Sonny: A Christmas Guest. New York: Century Co., 1901.
A new father describes the night his son was born, his son's life, and the birth of his grandson.
Van Dyke, Henry. The Story of the Other Wise Man. Illus. J. R. Flahagan. New York: Harper & Bros., 1920.
The author's introduction provides insights into how the story came to be, why he had the protagonist lie, and closes with specific suggestions to encourage writers in their craft.
Wallace, Lew. The First Christmas. New York: Harper & Bros., 1902.
A segment of Wallace's classic, Ben Hur