Old Christmas

This book, published in 1886 and illustrated by Randolph Caldecott, chronicles the American writer Washington Irving's nostalgic recollections of Christmas traditions in 19th century England. The text first appeared in 1819 in Irving's Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., which also contained such classics as "Rip van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow."

Library Journal

Irving's 1875 volume of English Christmas traditions preceded Dickens' A Christmas Carol by more than 20 years. This edition also sports 120 black-and-white drawings from the original printing. Libraries would do well to start their Christmas shopping early with this handsomely illustrated volume.

Washington Irving Was born in New York City in 1783. He lived in the United States, England, and Spain (where he served as an American diplomatic attache). A prolific author, Irving wrote "The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., Diedrich Knickerbocker's History of New York, The Alhambra, " and biographies of George Washington and Christopher Columbus, among other works. He is best remembered, however, for his two most famous stories, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle."

Randolph Caldecott (1846-86) was born in Chester, England, the son of a hatter. While still a child he showed his talent for drawing, modelling and carving, but he started his working life as a bank clerk before going to the Manchester School of Art at the age of twenty-one. He moved to London in search of commissions and produced drawings and cartoons for newspapers and journals before his first success with a set of one hundred and twenty drawings for Washington Irving's "Old Christmas" in 1876. It was his idea to produce a series of 'Toy Books' (picture books of a uniform size printed in colour), and this became the subject of the famous collaboration between the artist and the printer/engraver Edmund Evans. The first two - "The House that Jack Built" and "The Diverting History of John Gilpin" - were published in time for Christmas 1878 and the first printing of 10,000 copies sold out quickly. 'The very essence of all illustration for children's books', said" The Times" on Christmas Eve.
During the next seven years, Caldecott produced fourteen more Toy Books, illustrating nursery rhymes and songs with the interpretive skill that makes him such an important figure in the British picturebook tradition. He died, comparatively young, in St. Augustine, Florida.