Dramatic, authentically rendered monochrome illustrations, accented with gold foil, bring a Christmas classic to life.

Once upon a time, children imagined St. Nicholas as a stern, skinny bishop who was as likely to dole out discipline as Christmas presents. But thanks to the anonymous publication of the poem "Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas" in the TROY SENTINEL in 1823, a plumper, merrier St. Nick was born, transformed into the sleigh-riding, chimney-diving, jolly old elf we now call Santa Claus.

This immensely popular, hugely influential poem - better known by its first line, " ’Twas the night before Christmas" - now gets its just treatment as an American icon. Featuring gorgeous monochrome illustrations that are painstakingly true to pre-Victorian times, this definitive edition reflects the original spelling and punctuation - and is published anonymously, just as it was in 1823, in keeping with the controversy over who really wrote this marvelous work.