Poems (Including “Twas the Night Before Christmas”)

MOORE, Clement C.

Item Number: 3606

New York: Bartlett and Welford, 1844.

First edition. Octavo, full red morocco binding, gilt titles on to the spine. Gilt tooling to the front and rear panel, all edges gilt. Contains the first appearance of Moore’s famous poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (“Twas the Night Before Christmas”). In near fine condition with light wear. The first appearance of the poem in book form was in an anthology, The New-York Book of Poetry published in 1834. Clement C. Moore’s Poems is much rarer than The New-York Book of Poetry and is the desired first edition, as it contains only Moore’s poems. A very sharp copy of this important work.

"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 The authorship was first disclosed in the Troy Budget, December 23, 1838 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).