A Visit from St. Nicholas
Clement Moore's poem, A Visit from St. Nicholas, shaped the American image of Santa Claus. But in 1848 in New York, Henry Onderdonk was the first to publish it as a separate illustrated book.
Onderdonk printed these little 16-page books as a present for good little boys and girls. To make them even more appealing to children, he commissioned wood engraver Theodore Boyd to create illustrations for these tiny books.
Boyd's model for St. Nicholas is believed to have been a local Dutch handyman. Dressed in fur hat and waist coast, he depicts St. Nicholas as a realistic - if a bit short and stocky - adult. Tiny reindeer pull St. Nick and his sleigh through moonlit streets that clearly represent the NYC neighborhoods of Onderdonk and Boyd.
This publication is the first time we see the name Santa Claus and St. Nicholas together in print, names that will later become synonymous.
This is one of three known copies to exist, making it one of the rarest of all American Christmas books. And it is one of the treasures that can be found in the Morristown & Morris Township Library collections.
