Card, Christmas
Archive
Chrismas/New Year's card with an engraving showing Santa Claus sitting in front of a fireplace with a pipe in his mouth, a bag of toys on his back, and holding a doll he is stuffing into a stocking, with a narrow gold and red stripes creating octagonal borders, caption below reads "Santa Claus, The Night Before New Year, Designed and Engraved expressly for the New Mirror by Sherman & Smith, for 1844."
Inside is lined with red paper, printed with a note that indicates this Santa was designed for the New Mirror, and was the first Santa, debunking the idea that Thomas Nast created the original Santa which current culture sees as "traditional," as this Santa was designed when Nast was only four years old; the right side reads "Best Wishes for the New Year," and printed below is "Marie and Vincent Jones."
X2019.542


