Another Night Before

Well, here we are, the Night Before Christmas! I thought I'd share another one of my vintage books with everyone.

This one was published in 1935 by Whitman Publishing in Racine, Washington. It was my dad's. The front and back covers are exactly the same, and it is still held together with the three original staples. It's a little worn around the edges, but in great shape otherwise; there's no tape or other attempts at repair, either.

The book is Linen-Like, which I think just means it is all, including the cover, printed on a thick, ridgy cardstock, very similar to the textured cardstock I buy for scrapbooking. One odd thing about the story is that there are no Christmas trees anywhere in the illustrations! I also have to say that I think the father, shown here peeking at Santa, is kind of creepy.

For a book of its era, it's unusual to have color illustrations on every page. The illustrator of the book is Keith Ward, whose work many of you are familiar with as he was the illustrator for the Dick & Jane books, created Elmer the trademark for Elmer's glue, and was the illustrator of The Black Stallion. In the fine art community Ward was a respected and gifted impressionist. He died in 2000 at the age of 94. In researching Mr. Ward, I found a blog called Today's Inspiration that had interesting information about his illustrations and lots of pictures.I am off to Christmas Eve mass with the pageant, and then my family's Christmas Eve where we exchange gifts. This is so no one, aka the kids, is confused on Christmas between the Santa gifts and those from family, and they appreciate things more.