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    _ About Christmas Books And Numbers. •Me...

    _^ _^ I _^ I" - _^ __ .... ¦ _^ _,- _i- - _> r - _--. _-- _' -. -- — - — . . . ¦_ _-. ¦ - _¦_«_ _* _^ ______ after Christmas , and a Letter from Mr . Woodcock , ! Fellow in Oxford . Printed by Simon Minc'd Pye for Closely Plum-Porridge ; and are to be solde by Ralph Fiddler Chandler , at the signe of the Pack of Cards , Mustard Alley in Brawn Street , 1646 . ' Another one was * Faraway Bell , a Christmas Truth or two out or" the west worth the hearing , ' 1646 ; whilst another , in large 4 to . with three very curious woodcut figures on the title-page , appealed to our aDcestoVs under the not very perspicuous title of ' The Vindication of Christmas ; or , His Twelve Years' Observations on the Times . ' This was printed for G . Horton in 1653 . i ' The Exaltation of Christmas Pye . As it was delivered in a preachment in Lime Street , on these words , u And they did eat their Plumb Pies and rej oiced exceedingly . " By P . C , Doctor of Divinity and Midwifery , ' was first ( printed ( in 4 to ., 9 leaves ) in 1659 , and was in all probability reprinted more than once . The two latter books were , with-six others relating to Christmas , bound up together in a 4 to . volume in Mr . Huth ' s library . Yet another notable book is entitled ' Certain _Quarries Touching- the BiSe and Observation of Christmas ; Propounded to the consideration of all such as sire zealously ( but blindly ) affected towards the Observation of it . _; To which an answer is desired and expected by Joseph Hempages ing . ' is A copy in the of British this _qiiaint _IViuseum little ( quarto E . _^) . of There eight 4 propounded , in all ,, sixteen ' * from Quaeries my study which in Uttoxeter Mr . Hemin in g unnoticed 1648 '; and , although his challenge it was was not som _Al e lowed time to before pass ( apparently ) anyone essayed to take up the _gauntlet . When the anonymous answer of E encycl Fisher _opsedial ( whose ) ecclesiastical appeared is knowled uncertain ge , was alth truly ough April 1649 was , there is every reason to suppose , the correct date . It was in quarto , and comprised sixteen leaves ; there is no place or date , neither is there a regular title , it being printed with the ' Christian Caveat . ' Apparently another edition came out in 1654 , which is reprinted in ' The _Somfers Collection of Tracts , ' vi . 3-21 . One of the rarest of seventeenth-century Christmas books was described in the pages of Notes and Queries nineteen years ago . It was supposed to be unique , but there are at least a couple of copies in existence . The title is a lengthy one , but it commences ' Make roome for Christmas all yon that do love him ; or , Remember your Christmas-Box . ' It was printed in 1657 for Thomas Vere , who dwelt at the sign of the Angel , without Newgate . The author ' s name is Lawrence Price , who modestly describes his own work on the title-page as a ' delightful new Book , full of merry Jests , rare Inventions , pretty Conceits , Christmas Carols , pleasant Tales , and witty Yerses , ' and that , moreover , ' Who _wishes well to all those that beareth goodwill to Christmas Pyes , Rost Beef , Plum-pottage , white Loaves , Strong Beer , Warm Clothes , Good Fires , and Soft Lodging . ' The title may have been ( as was so often the case in those days ) the work of the bookseller , who could not , however , have written the puff preliminary of the poetic address ' To the Reader . ' Among a great many other good qualities , it is claimed that this book will ; fill hearts witli rare delights , help to pass away long nights , to comfort the sad , to revive the pretty damsel , ' though almost dead / and so ' Since it is good for man and woman ; Buy it and read it iat your leisure , Both for your profit and your pleasure _. Come who buys my New merry Book ?' I _ ., . „• _., ,- , 7 _,, . ' .. , , , . - : _____ :

    . / , I _[ , __»_____ _, __ As one example out of many of the eighteenth - century Christmas books , we give the follQwing : couraging The Tryal his of Majesty Old Father _^ Subj Christmas ects in _^ . Idleness For En-Gluttony , Drunkenness , _^ Gaming , Swearing , Riot- , bauchery ing , and . all At man the ner Assizes of Extrav held _ag m ance the and City De of - _Profusion , Before the Lord Chief Justice i ' Churchman , Mr . Justice Feast , Mr . Justice Gambol , and several other of his Majesty ' s Justices of Oyer and Terminer and Gaol Delivery . By Josiah Kin < _j ' ( 1735 ) . This was printed for the bookseller , T . Boreman , who had a shop on I _^ udgate _flill . Mr . William Sandys has defscribed this remarkably quaint book . Father Christmas is placed at the bar , and pleads ' Not Guilty . ' The jurymen are sworn , and evidences of various Witnesses taken with an elaborate amount of trouble ; but in the end the jury , without retiring , find the prisoner ' Not Guilty , ' which evoked ' loud shouts and applauses of the joyful crowd . ' The judge , in giving his sentence , directs Father Christmas to temper his _hospitality with prudence , avoiding gluttony and excess . The tract winds up with the following couplet : — And Christmas straight was courted far and near , To each The change good house in tastes to taste for their books p _^ lenteous as in fashions chear / , is notoriously rapid and unaccountable ; arid if the opening quarter of the present century can offer no example of Christmas numbers with the usual concomitant of large , glaring coloured pictures j it had at least the ' Annual' of Ackermann , the bookseller . The publication of the first volume of this pretty little work marks an era in gift-books . Boys and girls , were no longer - ' stuffed' with the dreary and unreadable rudiments of some particular science , exploded phase _ of history , or with a plethora of ' Jack the Giant Killer , ' ' Robinson Crusoe , ' and * Gulliver ' s Travels . ' As every grownup person made it a practice to present his or her younger friends with a copy of one or other of these books , the children of the earlier part of the century were almost justified in conceiving an inveterate hatred for Swift and Defoe . Ackermann's _' Forget-me-not , ' which came out in 1823 , was edited by F . Shoberl , and was a great success for over twenty years . In 1830 a ' Juvenile Forget-me-not' appeared , but in the natural order of things , and in spite of the title , a reaction set in , and both Mr . Ackermann and his ' Forget-me-nots ' became subjected to an unmerited neglect , from which the latter at least never survived . And yet , with a collection of these charming little duodecimos before us , we cannot refrain from comparing them with the Christmas books of to-day , and , honestly , we cannot think the advance has been so very great , after all , in fifty years . Ackermann ' s books are beautifully printed , whilst the illustrations are of a very superior order , engraved pictures by by the the best rpost artists eminent . The engravers prices were after , it is true , somewhat prohibitive , inasmuch as the ordinary ' Forget-me-not' was published at twelve shilling-s , and its ' Juvenile' compeer at eight . The contributors included such established writers as Douglas Jerrold , L . E . L ., The Old Sailor , Lamari Miss Mitford Blanchard , Tom , Mary Hood Howitt , See . , Bernard The leg Barton ion of , Annuals , Keepsakes , Souvenirs ( including that of which A . A . Watts was editor ) , and the like , which issued in shoals from the press so soon as Ackercourse mann ' s of venture time , proved performed a small the gold ' happy mine despatch , also , in , and faded into that oblivion which contains so much of human littleness . _H : , ¦¦ ' * ¦ ¦ ¦ = - = _»

    |H -^—' ' ' ' .'¦'."'' ,' P ! ¦ ¦ - ¦ - ...

    | H - _^— ' ' ' ' _. _'¦ ' . "'' _, ' ! ¦ ¦ - ¦ - ¦ ¦ ¦ i . _., i - .... . I I . - ' i - i" ¦¦ - 1 r iii- i . - -i ~ _ M _, o 8 The Publishers' Circular _©§* .. _& 1887 1 !

• Citation
  • Publishers’ Circular (1880-1890), Dec. 6, 1887, page 1508, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/pc/issues/tec_06121887/page/86/