Sunday, December 22, 2013

Have Yourself a Little Golden Christmas

I've been intending to do a post on Little Golden Books I've collected from garage sales over the years.  Frankly, the sheer volume of books I have has put it off. I thought I'd compromise with a Christmas-themed post of them.

First up is Frosty the Snow Man.  Originally published in 1950, below is a 1980 edition.  Not quite the Rankin-Bass version, it sticks more closely to the famous song.



Jingle Bells from 1964, this edition dates from 1981.  The familiar song put to story.


Mickey's Christmas Carol is obviously a less tradional Golden Book. Simply a story version of the Disney cartoon.  I have two editions, the original published in 1983 and a later edition with a new cover published in 1998



Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  Similar to Frosty in that this is a more song-related telling than the Rankin-Bass version.  Santa's not quite the jerk he is in the Rankin-Bass telling, just oblivious to Rudolph's existence.  This is actually my personal copy of the book from childhood.  Originally published in 1958, this is a 1973 edition.


Santa's Surprise Book features yet another cover by Florence Sarah Winship, artist from the coloring book I profiled a few weeks back.  Original publication 1966. This edition 1981.


Walt Disney's Santa's Toy Shop was drawn by Disney cartoonists.  This is an original copy from 1950.


MGM's Tom and Jerry's Merry Christmas dates from 1954.


And finally, the classic The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore.  Originally published in 1822 (not in Golden Book form, of course), this version was originally published in 1940.  This is a 1976 edition.  I had this Golden Book as a child as well.  I also had the Whitman version.  I preferred the drawings in this version.


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