"HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT"

[MOORE, Clement C.] WINSHIP, Florence Sarah, illustrator. The Night Before Christmas. Racine, Wisconsin: Whitman, 1951. Slim folio (9-1/2 by 13 inches), original staple-bound stiff pictorial wrappers, scalloped edges; pp. 11. $350.

Colorfully illustrated edition of the cherished Yuletide poem, with bright full-color wrappers and full-color illustrations (often featuring Santa's attire and other red details embellished with red felt) by Florence Sarah Winship.

"Clement C. Moore, a professor of Hebrew, wrote the poem in 1822 as a Christmas gift for his children. A house guest copied it in the fall of 1823, and later sent her copy to the editor of the Troy Sentinel, where it was first published, anonymously, December 23, 1823… Not until St. Nicholas passed through the crucible of Doctor Clement Clarke Moore's mind and imagination did the patron saint of childhood ever ride in a sleigh, or have eight tiny reindeer… Nor was he dressed in furs, nor did he smoke a pipe, nor did he ever get into the homes of good little boys and girls by going down chimneys" (Grolier American 100, 52). This edition features a colorful front wrapper showing a cheerful Santa Claus, with vivid color illustrations on every page. Number 1107-15 of Whitman's publications.

Very nearly fine condition.