New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1905. First edition, 12mo, pp. [4], 59; frontispiece illustration in the pre-Raphaelite style; original olive green cloth stamped and lettered in gilt on spine and front cover; spine faded, light wear to extremities, and signature starting at frontispiece; generally good and sound. This copy inscribed and dated by the author on the ffep; the inscription rendered partially illegible by the running of the ink.

Synopsis

It is a good thing to observe Christmas day. The mere marking of times and seasons, when men agree to stop work and make merry together, is a wise and wholesome custom. It helps one to feel the supremacy of the common life over the individual life. It reminds a man to set his own little watch, now and then, by the great clock of humanity which runs on sun time.But there is a better thing than the observance of Christmas day, and that is, keeping Christmas.Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people, and to remember what other people have done for you; to ignore what the world owes you, and to think what you owe the world; to put your rights in the background, and your duties in the middle distance, and your chances to do a little more than your duty in the foreground; to see that your fellow-men are just as real as you are, and try to look behind their faces to their hearts, hungry for joy; to own that probably the only good reason for your existence is not what you are going to get out of life, but what you are going to give to life; to close your book of complaints against the management of the universe, and look around you for a place where you can sow a few seeds of happiness - are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.

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Details

Bookseller: Rulon-Miller Books (US)
Bookseller's Inventory #: 30052
Title: The spirit of Christmas
Author: VAN DYKE, HENRY
Book Condition: Used
Quantity Available: 1
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons
Place of Publication: New York
Date Published: 1905
Keywords: Holidays , Christmas books , Poetry Poets Poems ,

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Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:

Spine: The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
Inscribed: When a book is described as being inscribed, it indicates that a short note written by the author or a previous owner has been...
Cloth: "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
Gilt: The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
12mo: A duodecimo is a book approximately 7 by 4.5 inches in size, or similar in size to a contemporary mass market paperback. Also...
First Edition: In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...