Books : Christmas Curiosities: Odd, Dark, and Forgotten Christmas

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Author name: John Grossman

: Christmas Curiosities: Odd, Dark, and Forgotten Christmas
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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 394.2663
EAN num: 9781584796992
ISBN number: 1584796995
Label: Stewart, Tabori & Chang
Manufacturer: Stewart, Tabori & Chang
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 224
Printing Date: October 01, 2008
Publishing house: Stewart, Tabori & Chang
Sale Popularity Level: 41548
Studio: Stewart, Tabori & Chang



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Product Description:

Oh, by gosh, by golly. It’s time for . . . rowdy bands of drunkards roaming the streets, lighting firecrackers, and firing off guns? Gangs of masked youths invading people’s houses, demanding food, drink, and money—and threatening to break the windows (or worse) unless they’re given what they want?

 

Welcome to Christmas, circa 1800. Yes, the season of light, joy, and gift-giving was once regarded as a time of darkness, danger, and dissipation—and celebrated with all-too-public displays of noisemaking, inebriation, and gluttonous overeating. (Well, maybe not everything has changed.) And though we tend to imagine Victorian-era Christmases as sentimental gatherings around the candlelit tree, blazing hearth, and festive punchbowl, the 19th-century evidence tells us quite otherwise.

 

Drawing from his extensive collection of antique postcards, greeting cards, advertising giveaways, and other ephemera, author John Grossman presents a picture of Christmas past that, frankly, looks a lot more like Halloween. Broomstick-riding witches and vampire bat–borne cupids deliver New Year’s greetings. Fur-clad fairies gather ’round a campfire to roast their Christmas dinner—a huge dead rat. And Saint Nicholas? He’s that skinny guy in the bishop robes who arrives with his dark companion, the Devil-like Krampus brandishing switches to punish the badly behaved.

 

With Christmas Curiosities, STC wishes you a very merry, very scary Christmas.





Customer Reviews
User popularity level: out of 5 stars

Rated by buyers 5 out of 5 stars - creepy great!
I love this book! probably the only one of it's kind. It's a great size, well formated, and colorful. An excellant reference.


Rated by buyers 5 out of 5 stars - Creepily splendid
Christmas history has always fascinated me, and John Grossman's array of antique Yuletide greetings yields wondrous insight as to how the season was celebrated in yesteryear.

From the creepy bats bearing happy-looking (!) tots to the frozen-to-death songbirds (they apparently served as reminders to Victorians that impoverished children often froze to death around the holidays [!!] ), the illustrations are both bizarre and wonderful. The evil counterparts to the benevolent St. Nicholas--Krampus, Pelznickel, etc.--are brought vividly to life. Too vividly, at times. Krampus is literally a demon, and in some cards he's seen gleefully dragging naughty tykes toward some conflagration of doom. Yay!!!

I have become obsessed with the arcane figure of MOTHER CHRISTMAS, an erstwhile companion to Britain's Father Christmas. The author describes her as a cross between a cheerful witch and Mother Goose. Decked out in a panniered skirt of bright blue and bearing a Christmasy wand (but not looking all that merry or bright), Mother Christmas apparently assisted in the distribution of gifts. Unfortunately her tenure in the pantheon of Christmas personalities was quite brief--which I find a real shame.

Saint Nicholas, Santa Claus, Frosty, Rudolph, Ebenezer Scrooge and Jack Frost are all male. Only Mrs. Claus (who gets negligent mention in most cases) stands out as a female figure at Christmas.

So I say bring Mother Christmas back. Imagine the merchandizing opportunities! Give her a 21st century makeover and all shall adore her!

YAY MOTHER CHRISTMAS! OH GOD!!! PLEASE BRING HER __BACK__!!!




Rated by buyers 4 out of 5 stars - Greetings from Krampus
It's a very interesting read. Not long on text, the book consists mostly of reproductions from Victorian postcards that give a snapshot of various periods in the history of Christmas. Due to the nature of postcard printing (and the author's collection), the focus is primarily that of northern Europe and America; there's little of the Southern European "Nativity" tradition represented here, but it's still a fascinating look into the collective psyche of a holiday.

My only quibble is the book's relatively small dimensions (about 8" by 8" square); it would have benefited from a much larger scale to be a proper coffee table book.


Rated by buyers 5 out of 5 stars - Holiday Horrors
Americans tend to forget that a long tradition of ghosts and ghoulishness preceded Dickens' "Christmas Carol"; John Grossman brings it back to the forefront in this collection of postcards, advertisements, and illustrations from the 19th and early 20th centuries.

If anthropomorphized foodstuffs and seemingly predatory angels give pause, those are merely the icing on Grossman's fiendish pudding of divine children, saints, witches, goblins, and devils, all bringing holiday cheer or retribution, depending on the behavior of the recipients. The author's text is a delight, balancing historical context with humorous commentary.

This book is also valuable for the perspective it offers regarding the evolution of the Christmas holiday and its principal figures. The unfailingly jolly and almost completely secular Santa Claus of yesterday would be a stranger among the early 19th century's incarnations of St. Nicholas, Father Christmas, and demonic Krampus.

This book would make a wonderful gift, particularly for those suffering from an overload of Christmas sugarplums.


Rated by buyers 5 out of 5 stars - One More Fabulous Book!
The artwork is exceptional. The observations are terrific. A Christmas book with a different view. Whoever says the good old days, needs to read this book. I love all of John Grossman's books, and this one didn't disappoint.


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