AN UNCOMMON EDITION: NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, IN CUT OUT FORM WITH FULL-COLOR WRAPPERS

[MOORE, Clement C.] CHASE, Joseph Cummings, illustrator. The Night Before Christmas. New York: Charles E. Graham, (ca. 1920). Slim octavo, staple-bound as issued, original pictorial paper wrappers; pp. 12. $325.

Delightful shape book edition of the cherished Yuletide poem, circa 1920, illustrated by Joseph Cummings Chase.

"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's illustrations were done by American artist Joseph Cummings Chase (1878-1965), best known as a portrait painter. Features vivid full-color illustration on front and rear wrappers, along with in-text illustrations printed with single color. Front wrapper marked number 016 in the "Christmas Cut Out" series; this edition was also issued with a variant cover illustration of Santa and a little Dutch boy. Marshall 236.

Traces of rubbing to spine and edges. A bright, near-fine copy of this uncommon item.