A poem called “A Visit from St. Nicholas” was published anonymously on December 23, 1823, in the Troy, New York, Sentinel. The authorship of this iconic poem has been attributed to Clement Moore, although there is some disagreement about that. At any rate, you can read the poem archived on this site by the University of Virginia, and see the engravings made by T.C. Boyd from the first fully illustrated publication of the poem in 1848. By the time this little book was published, the poem’s title was now “The Night Before Christmas.” The vision of St. Nick, or Santa Claus, expressed in this poem has shaped our image of what Santa is like today.
courtesy of Knovation