MOORE, CLEMENT C. (1779-1863). American author of A Visit from St. Nicholas, more popularly known as ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. Signed book. (“Clement C. Moore”). 62pp. Plus several pages of advertisements. 8vo. N.p., 1859 or later. A reissue of Joseph Rodman Drake’s poetry collection The Culprit Fay (New York: Rudd & Carleton, 1859) with Moore’s ownership signature on the title page.
Clement C. Moore
Moore, the son of an Episcopal minister who became bishop of New York and a trustee of Columbia University, was a student of languages who wrote, in 1809, A Compendious Lexicon of the Hebrew Language. Standing in sharp contrast to the work for which he would become best known, this scholarly achievement earned him the title of “the pioneer of Hebrew lexicography in this country,” (Appleton’s Cyclopaedia). More famously, while riding in a sleigh through New York’s Bowery on Christmas Eve in 1822, Moore was inspired to compose ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. He wrote it down upon returning to his home on 23rd Street and read it aloud to his children who were immediately enchanted by it. A year later a friend of Moore’s submitted the work to the Troy Sentinel where it was published anonymously on December 23, 1823. It was an immediate success partly due, perhaps, because Moore’s scholarly ambitions kept hidden his authorship of what became one of America’s best-loved poems until 1837.
During his brief life, Joseph Rodman Drake (1795-1820) studied at Columbia College and practiced medicine. He collaborated with poet Fitz-Greene Halleck to pen satirical verses for the New York Evening Post, but died of consumption at the age of 25. Published posthumously in 1835, Drake’s poetry collection takes its title from the work, considered his masterpiece, “The Culprit Fay,” a fairy tale in verse which became, at the time, one of the America’s best-known poems, making it the subject of a vitriolic review by Edgar Allan Poe in 1836. Also included in the volume is Drake’s patriotic poem “The American Flag,” later set to music by Antonin Dvorak.
In the original cloth binding. The ink from Moore’s signature, at the top of the title page, has transferred to the leaves before and after the title page. In very fine condition. Books from Moore’s library are rare.
