CSotD: An old-fashioned Christmas
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A little artwork from the December 2, 1902, issue of Puck, the comic weekly.
This cover is by Australian-born artist Frank Nankivell, about whom I knew nothing. That link will not only tell you about him, but a little about Puck itself, mostly that it was the first publication to use photo-engraving, which gave artists more leeway in their work. (Thanks, Alan Moir!)
Here's the center spread from that year's December 24 issue, done by S.D. Ehrhart, about whom, alas, I found only this snippet.
(Illustration shows a large, decorated Christmas tree around which appear
some of the characters who routinely appear in Puck's cartoons, such as
the automobile driving scofflaw holding a gift of "Horse Liniment", the
domineering servant with her gift of an alarm clock, the housemaid and
her gift of "China cement", an Irishman holding a box of "English
Soldiers" labeled "For Patrick", and "For Mr. Henpeck" two tickets to
the "Theatre – to night Taming of the Shrew" which he is offering to his
contemptuous wife. Puck is standing on a step ladder at center,
offering a crown "For Miss Gotrox" to a stylishly dressed young woman
straining to reach it. Others are receiving equally poignant gifts.
Caption: A little something for each of his characters. — Library of Congress Prints and Photographs division)
Here's more about Puck from the Theodore Roosevelt Center, which is where I got this stuff, though it's ultimately the Smithsonian's site. I did a serial on Roosevelt and the Conservation Movement for the Denver Post's educational services department this past spring and not only learned about him but also this resource. Dunno if the kids got anything out of it, but it was time well-spent for me.
Their digital library is a good place to play around, if you enjoy turning up gems like this:
(This, by the way, would be an excellent day to click on images for a larger version)
Tonight will be oyster stew with eldest son and his gang, a tradition we swiped from Laura Ingalls Wilder. Hope you've got a few of your own, for this holiday or whatever you and yours rally around this time of year.
Postscript: This copy of "A Visit From St. Nicholas" is from 1862, by which time it was a well-known poem, and comes from the Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, suggesting that it may have been Roosevelt's. He'd have been four years old that Christmas. However, a Mr. W. Miller, of Maine, writes to remind us that, while this copy of the poem may have been Roosevelt's, the poem itself may not have been Clement Moore's.
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