|
Dec 24, 1822 |
Moore writes the poem and reads it to his six children on Christmas Eve |
|
Dec 23, 1823 |
First known publication in the Troy (New York) Sentinel;
editor titles poem Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas |
|
1825 |
First appearance in an almanac; New Brunswick (New Jersey)
Almanack, for the Year of Our Lord 1825 |
|
circa 1830 |
First known illustration connected with the poem; woodcut by
Myron King in the Troy (New York) Sentinel newspaper carrier's
holiday broadside |
|
1830 |
First abridgment in John F. Watson's Annals of Philadelphia |
|
1832 |
First use of "Merry Christmas . . . " in place
of Moore's original "Happy Christmas . . . "
in the Schenectady (New York) Whig |
|
1837 |
First publication and first full-length book identifying Clement
Clarke Moore as the author; The
New-York Book of Poetry, edited by Charles Fenno Hoffman |
|
1840 |
Second known illustration for the poem; an engraving by William
Croome in The Poets of America, edited by John Keese |
|
1840 |
First significant literary recognition; by William Cullen Bryant
in Selections from the American Poets |
|
circa 1842 |
First separately printed copy of the poem under Moore's name:
a broadside issued by John H. Wolff, Stationer, Philadelphia,
as a "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year" greeting |
|
1844 |
First public acknowledgment by Moore of authorship; anthology
of his poetry entitled Poems |
|
1848 |
First separately published book; by Henry M. Onderdonk, illustrated
with engravings by Theodore C. Boyd |
| Dec 1848 |
Addendum: First known foreign publication, in
the Canadian juvenile series The Snow Drop, Vol. II, No. 9;
"Merry
Christmas . . ." is substituted
for the original "Happy Christmas . . ." |
|
1851 |
First use of The Night Before Christmas as a subtitle;
in American Magazine: Gems of Modern American Literature,
published by W. S. Johnson, London |
|
August 1853 |
Earliest extant holograph manuscript copy written by Moore; purchased
at auction in 1977 and owned by The Strong Museum, Rochester,
New York |
|
1855 |
First illustrations in color; a hand-illuminated manuscript by
Moore's married daughter, Mary Clarke Moore Ogden |
|
circa 1858 |
First separately published edition to use the title The Night
Before Christmas; in conjunction with St. Nicholas
and Kriss Kringle's Visit, published by Willis P. Hazard
and illustrated by "Nick" |
|
1862 |
Other than in the 1832 newspaper, first change in a US publication from "Happy
Christmas . . . " to "Merry Christmas . . .
"; in a James G. Gregory edition illustrated by Felix
Octavius Carr Darley |
|
1863 |
First pen and ink drawings of St. Nick by Thomas Nast, illustrator
and political cartoonist; for an 1863-1864 James Gregory anthology
edition, Christmas Poems and Pictures . . . Relating to the
Festival of Christmas |
|
circa 1863 |
First edition to use the title The Night Before Christmas
by itself; published by Peter G. Thomson and illustrated by B.
Geyser |
|
1864 |
First card edition, in accordion-fold format, by Louis Prang
Company (Boston); ten years later, Prang introduced the Christmas
card to America |
|
1869 |
First McLoughlin Brothers edition with chromolithographs on every
page, although no illustrator is credited |
|
circa 1898 |
First foreign publication by Raphael Tuck in Great Britain in
his Father Tuck's Nursery Tales Series |
| circa 1890s |
Addendum: First separately published foreign editions
by S. Hildesheimer (Germany, illustrations by E. F. Manning) and Raphael
Tuck (Great Britain) in Father
Tuck's Nursery Tales Series |
