654

Clement C. Moore

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:4,000.00 - 5,000.00 USD
Clement C. Moore

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Auction Date:2014 Dec 10 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Signed book: Poems. First edition, collected and published at the request of Moore’s children. NY: Bartlett & Welford, 1844. Hardcover, 5.25 x 7.5, 216 pages. Signed and inscribed on the half-title page by Moore, “To His Excellency Baron Gerolt, Minister from Prussia to the United States, Washington. With the respects of the Author. April 1846.” Autographic condition: mild toning and soiling to the signed page. Book is bound in the publisher’s original brown paper boards, most of the printed paper spine label and upper inch of spine cover absent, front hinge split and just barely attached; interior is complete, tight, and clean throughout. Includes a custom quarter leather slipcase with raised spine and green leather labels with gilt lettering.

This volume contains Moore’s classic poem ‘A Visit from St. Nicholas,’ beginning with the iconic line, “’Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house.” Appearing on pages 124–127, it is the very first appearance of the poem in a collection dedicated entirely to his own verse. Moore had initially written it for his children and recited it to them on Christmas Eve in 1822, and ‘A Visit from St. Nicholas’ was first published anonymously in the Troy Sentinel on December 23, 1823. It quickly became popular among readers and was soon published in anthologies, including The New York Book of Poetry in 1837 and in Bryant’s Selections from the American Poets in 1840. However, it was not until 1844—with this first edition of Moore’s Poems—that ‘A Visit from St. Nicholas’ was acknowledged in print as having been written by Clement C. Moore. The recipient of this author’s presentation copy, Friedrich von Gerolt, was the Prussian minister plenipotentiary to the United States, still regarded as the longest-serving ambassador of Germany to the US with over 25 years of service. This is an especially appropriate association, considering the elements of the American Santa Claus derived from Germanic tradition. A magnificent and exceedingly scarce presentation copy.