Applewood Books

In 1939 Robert L. May, a copywriter working at Chicago's Montgomery Ward & Co., wrote a holiday story at the request of his employer. Almost two and a half million copies of the little tale about a reindeer with a shiny red nose were given away to all the children who visited Montgomery Ward stores that year. The rest is history. Seventy-five years later, the beloved classic is once again available in a hardcover faithful facsimile of the 1939 Rudolph, with original text and original Denver Gillen illustrations.

This caringly-produced facsimile edition, with charming cover and interior illustrations by Jessie Wilcox Smith, was originally published in 1912.

The beloved and iconic Christmas poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (more commonly known as “’Twas the Night Before Christmas”) was written in 1823 by Clement C. Moore. The poem was an instant sensation and still, two hundred years later, is synonymous with Christmas and embodies many of the characteristics still associated with Santa Claus today.