Moore, Clement C.:

$6,500 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

POEMS. A presentation copy, inscribed "The Rev.d Dr. Jarvis with the respects of the Author" on the half title. This first edition of Moore's collected poetry includes an early printing of his famous poem commonly referred to as "Twas the Night Before Christmas." The poem, "A Visit from St, Nicholas," appears on pages 124-127 for the first time in the context of a collection of the author's own work. The present edition was collected and published at the request of Moore's children. The famous poem, known better today as "Twas the Night Before Christmas," was first published in the Troy Sentinel newspaper, in 1823, and was reprinted for the first time in book form in an anthology with works by other writers in 1837."Moore, a professor of Hebrew, wrote this poem in 1822 as a Christmas gift for his children. A houseguest copied it in the fall of 1823, and later sent her copy to the editor of the Troy Sentinel, where it was published first, anonymously, December 23, 1823. It first appeared between covers in the New Brunswick Almanack for...1825....It was quickly picked up by Readers and Anthologies..." - GROLIER AMERICAN HUNDRED.The present Poems is the first appearance of "A Visit from St. Nicholas" in a work of Moore's own verse and thus considered the definitive edition.

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