Product Description

For millions of Americans, young and old alike, Christmas is a fat jolly Santa Claus with a bag full of presents, carolers singing Yuletide hymns, and a lovingly decorated tree glowing with the joy of the season. But where did the best-loved traditions that make Christmas America's favorite holiday originate?

With charming vintage illustrations by famous artists such as Thomas Nast, Everett Shinn, Al Hirschfeld, Arthur Rackham, and many others, Inventing Christmas explains how most of our cherished traditions evolved over the 25-year period from 1822 (when Clement Clarke Moore's A Visit from St. Nicholas was published) to 1848. The author, who has been collecting Christmas ephemera for over 50 years, shows how Santa, the Christmas tree, gift-giving, and Scrooge all came to signify Christmas-in what is surely the ultimate gift book and stocking stuffer for lovers of this holiday, its customs, and its collectibles.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #469427 in Books
• Published on: 2002-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 128 pages

From Publishers Weekly
If Christmas did not exist, Madison Avenue would have to invent it. Yet as Elliott shows in this beautiful book, not only is the Christmas season a time of lavish spending and entertaining, it also brings with it a flood of images and customs and totems that has come to epitomize what happiness with family and friends should look like. Not only is Elliott chairman emeritus of the advertising firm Ogilvy & Mather, he is also a man who was given wonderful Christmas celebrations as a child. Over his more than 80 years, he has learned a great deal about the holiday he loves. Drawing on his collection of more than 3,000 pieces of Christmas ephemera, including such extraordinary possessions as Charles Dickens's reading copy of A Christmas Carol, Elliott tells the beguiling tale of how this most dual-sacred and secular-of human festivals came into being. Nodding to its earliest origins, Elliott focuses on the "invented traditions." "Most of our Christmas customs," he explains, "were invented in an amazingly short twenty-five-year period, from 1823-1848-a sort of `Big Bang' of our Christmas." Gorgeous illustrations by Thomas Nast (who created the Republican elephant and Democratic donkey) show the invention of Santa Claus, which began with a story by Washington Irving and culminated in "The Night Before Christmas" by Clement Clarke Moore. Nast's vision became iconic, but Elliott persuades us that a trio of New Yorkers-Irving, the holiday booster John Pintard and Moore-invented the child-centered family holiday that we know today. Further chapters cover the introduction of Christmas trees and Christmas cards, Christmas carols and Dickens's influence on our understanding of Christmas. Opening this book each year deserves to be a tradition in itself.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Wonderful insight into the traditions that make up our holiday.
Jock Elliott captures and relates all of the building blocks that went into making our Christmas holiday what it is--in terms of the way in which we celebrate.

As an ad man, he's got a unique perspective.

Fascinating reading.

Fabulous color!
Saw this book when it was listed with a book I wanted to buy about Christmas and the history of our American traditions. It is a beautiful book with lots of pictures- not alot of written information. Still find it interesting and informative.

FUN AND FASCINATING!
Almost all Americans celebrate Christmas but so few of us really know its deep-rooted and ancient origins as well as the origins of so many of the traditions we hold so dear.

In his wonderful book called, Jock Elliott has charted all of this story (and more) with care and good cheer. He reminds us of how recent the Christmas "tradition" is, and how ancient. He tells us, for example, that the Christmas tree is basically a product of the second half of the American 19th century, and can be traced to England. The British royal family - themselves imports from Germany - first pitched such trees in their palatial homes. But the trees, and the rituals of winter celebrations, could themselves be traced all the way back to pagan times and the celebrations of the winter solstice.

We learn about the men who defined Santa claus Including Clement Moore who wrote the "Night Before Christmas", and Thomas nast. Nast was the greatest political cartoonist of the 19th century, perhaps of any American century. During the holiday season of 1862-63, Nast put visual flesh on the poetic bones provided by Moore. In the Jan. 3, 1863, issue of Harper's Weekly, he showed Santa Claus cheering up the battered Union troops. He's wearing striped pants and a shirt spangled with stars. Nast would do a year-end drawing of Santa Claus for each of the following 25 years.

From giving gifts to misletoe, Elliots great book fills us in on the origins of Everything Christmas. Highly Recommended