Product Description

The legend of Santa Claus began in America in 1822 with Clement C. Moore's poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas." This enduring poem, which begins with the now-classic line "Twas the night before Christmas," paints a vivid picture of Saint Nick and his miniature sleigh pulled by eight tiny reindeer. This image was illustrated for the first time by Thomas Nast for Harper's Weekly in 1863 and became the inspiration for much of the beautifully detailed Victorian art captured in The Book of Santa Claus. This rich compilation celebrates the mystique of Santa Claus through the beautiful illustrations from century-old postcards from that era's preeminent commercial artists, such as Frances Brundage and Ellen Clapsaddle.Author Vicky Howard's personal collection of cherished postcards began with an album of cards collected by her husband's grandmother, and now numbers in the thousands. With her exhaustive source of images as a starting point, this book presents the fruits of Howard's carefully selected and most treasured pictures of dear, familiar Santa. This precious art from the Golden Age of postcards is coupled with poems on the Christmas joy of Kris Kringle.You don't have to be a child to appreciate the magic within The Book of Santa Claus. As Howard notes, "We can never outgrow the anticipation of a visit from Santa Claus. He is a magical figure, drawn from the legends, history, and folklore of many countries."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #243112 in Books
• Published on: 2002-09-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 96 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780740726989
• BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

About the Author
Vicky Howard is an accomplished artist whose previous books include The Art of Teaching, which has 23,000 copies in print and is in its third printing, and Christmas Cheer, which has 18,000 copies in print and is in its second printing. Her licensed work generates $35 million in annual revenue, and includes licensees such as Creative Papers by C. R. Gibson, Dimensions, and RAZ Imports. Vicky lives with her husband, Rex, who's also an artist, and their two cats in Lawrence, Kans.

Customer Reviews

Mr Kringle's best ever book!
I've always been interested in the commercial presentation of the fat man and this book is the seventh in my collection. One of my favorites is 'Dream of Santa' (ISBN 0517186551) which has thirty-three excellent reproductions of Haddon Sundblom's Santa painted over the years for Coca-Cola, another interesting book covers all the marketing variations the company used, ('Coca-Cola Collectible Santas' ISBN 1887432930) other titles cover advertising collectibles.

Vicky Howard's book is in a class of its own though. It is a joy to look at because attention to detail has paid off, from the lovely jacket, with its gold embossed title, endpapers, elegant typography throughout the ninety-six pages, to the paper and printing and with the many delightful pre-1920 pictures of Santa, all combine to make the perfect book. Many similar pictures appear in 'Postcards from Santa Claus' (ISBN 075700105X) but this is a more straightforward historical survey and lacks the seasonal magic of Howard's book.

If you have young children I feel that 'The Book of Santa Claus' is just the right title to bring out each December and let them discover Santa again, as the years pass and the pages get more thumbed it could end up as a family heirloom. When they are grown up this wonderful little book will revive happy memories of the Christmas season.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

Beautiful illustrations, so-so text
If you're looking for a collection of victorian santa images, this book is the one. The pictures were amazing, & it's worth buying this book for them. However, I didn't do 5 stars because I thought the text wasn't very good. It mostly rather inane rhyming poems such as you'd see in Christmas cards. There were a couple really good ones, but overall the text wasn't nearly good enough to be put with these wonderful pictures.

Makes me feel like a kid again!
This is a beautiful book. It is jammed full of lovely pictures and poems. It is very well made w/ a wonderful thick textured cover. Feels and looks like it's much more expensive. A must for those who are true lovers of ole St. Nick!