Description
No Dust Jacket as issued. The binding is Very Good illustrated stiff paper, a short tear at the top center of the cover and a bent corner at top right. The book contains the story and two panoramas of Santa and his sleigh and reindeer, the page tops for the team of reindeer are contoured to the illustrations. The wraparound cover starts the panorama which is 6 pages long, the second panorama has the story text on the last two pages which is wrapped in the panorama of Santa and his sleigh with the complete reindeer team which is 6 pages. The illustrations are bright and the pages are clean. Ethel Hays illustrated this version of The Night Before Christmas copyright 1943. Book Measures 10″ x 13″ Tall.
About the author:
Clement Clarke Moore (July 15, 1779 – July 10, 1863) was an American writer, scholar and real estate developer. He is best known as author of the Christmas poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas”, which first named each of Santa Claus’s reindeer. Wikipedia
About the illustrator:
Ethel Hays (March 13, 1892 – March 19, 1989) was an American syndicated cartoonist specializing in flapper-themed comic strips in the 1920s and 1930s. She drew in Art Deco style. In the later part of her career, during the 1940s and 1950s, she became one of the country’s most accomplished children’s book illustrators. Wikipedia
Bout the publisher:
The Saalfield Publishing Company published children’s books and other products from 1900 to 1977. It was once one of the largest publishers of children’s materials in the world. The company was founded in 1900, by Arthur J. Saalfield. The company published the works of authors including Louisa May Alcott, Lewis Carroll, Horatio Alger, P. T. Barnum, Daniel Defoe, Colonel George Durston, Laura Lee Hope, Herman Melville, Dr. Seuss, Anna Sewell, Shirley Temple, Johanna Spyri, Mark Twain, Johann Rudolf Wyss, and Robert Sidney Bowen. The company also published educational toys and games, including the game Blockhead!.
Among the artists employed by Saalfield was noted illustrator Ethel Hays. She worked on a variety of the company’s juvenile titles, including Peter Rabbit, The Night Before Christmas, and The Little Red Hen. Her most notable work came after Saalfield had secured the license from the Johnny Gruelle Company in 1944 to produce Raggedy Ann and Andy material. Storybooks, coloring books, and paper doll booklets soon followed. Most of the artwork fell to Hays, “whose exuberant, curvilinear style perfectly captured the whimsy and energy of Gruelle’s characters.” Another artist/illustrator who did work for Saalfield was Frances Brundage (1854 – 1937). Brundage, who also did work for Raphael Tuck & Sons, the Samuel Gabriel Company, and other publishers, illustrated many classic works for children, and had widespread popularity; books with her illustrations are actively collected.
In April 1977 Saalfield Publishing Company shut down, and its library and archives were purchased by Kent State University. Wikipedia
