Morgan Library: Illus. Ms of Moore’s, ‘Christmas Poem’ + Ms Dickens’s, ‘A Christmas Carol’ / thru 1.5th

Earliest Color Illustrated Manuscript of the Christmas Poem

“A Visit from St. Nicholas”

Enters The Morgan Library & Museum Collection

The New Acquisition and the Morgan’s Beloved

Manuscript of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol

View November 26, 2024 through January 5, 2025

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New York, NY (November 25, 2024) – The Morgan Library & Museum has acquired the earliest manuscript with color illustrations of the poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas”( more famously known as “The Night Before Christmas”) by Clement Clarke Moore. The book, illustrated by Moore’s daughter Mary Clarke Moore Ogden, will be on view this holiday season in J. Pierpont Morgan’s Library along with the beloved manuscript of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol from November 26, 2024 through January 5, 2025.

Clement Clarke Moore (1779–1863) wrote “A Visit from St. Nicholas” in 1822. It is believed that a family friend sent a copy of the poem to the Troy Sentinel newspaper in Troy, New York, which published it anonymously on December 23, 1823. It was attributed to Moore in 1837. In the poem, Moore originated many of the features that are still associated with Santa Claus today.

This manuscript was illustrated by Moore’s daughter, Mary Clarke Moore Ogden (1819–1893), and given to her husband John Doughty Ogden as a Christmas present in 1855. The volume features the first color illustrations of the poem, set as miniature vignettes within the decorative border surrounding the text. On one of the pages she depicted the house in the Chelsea section of New York City where she and her eight brothers and sisters heard the poem recited by her father every Christmas. Other notable features include the original text of the poem’s second-to-last line, reading “Happy Christmas to all,” which would later be changed to “Merry Christmas to all.” The volume has long been treasured by the Ogden family. 

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Dr. Colin B. Bailey, Katharine J. Rayner Director, said, “The Morgan is thrilled to add this extraordinary manuscript to the collection, donated to us by David Ogden who, like the Morgan itself, turned 100 this year. He is happy to see this family heirloom find a home in the Morgan’s collection, alongside other Christmas treasures like the manuscript of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. We are thankful to our Trustee Clement (Chips) C. Moore, a descendant of Clement Clarke Moore, who helped facilitate this gift to the Morgan.”

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David D. Ogden said, “As our family has treasured this illuminated manuscript of “A Visit from St. Nicholas” created by my great grandmother Mary Clark Moore Ogden, I’m deeply gratified to ensure its preservation at the Morgan Library. This gift feels especially meaningful as both the Morgan and I celebrate our centennial years, creating a fitting partnership between this historic institution and my family’s legacy.” 

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Also on view is the Morgan’s yearly presentation of Charles Dickens’s original manuscript of A Christmas Carol. Beginning a few years ago, the Morgan started advancing the Christmas Carol manuscript by one page each season. This year’s passage finds Scrooge alone, having sent away the charity canvassers and reluctantly giving Bob Cratchit Christmas day off. While Bob dashes off for parlor games at home in Camden Town, Scrooge leaves the office “with a growl” and “took his melancholy dinner in his usual melancholy tavern.” To characterize Scrooge’s own residence, described as “a gloomy suite of rooms in a lowering pile of building up a yard where it had so little business to be,” Dickens uses a surprising metaphor of play: “one could scarcely help fancying it must have run there, when it was a young house, playing at hide and seek with other houses; and have forgotten the way out again.” The darkness and fog enveloping Scrooge’s home instill a foreboding mood in the scene, as does the narrator’s assurance to the reader that “there was nothing at all particular about the knocker on the door.” Marley’s arrival is imminent.

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Clement Clarke Moore (1779–1863), Moore’s St. Nicholas. Illuminated by M. Ogden [“A Visit from St. Nicholas”], 1855. Written and illuminated by Mary Clarke Moore Ogden (1819–1893). The Morgan Library & Museum, Gift of David D. Ogden Family in honor of the Morgan’s Centennial, 2024, MA 23900. Photography by Carmen González Fraile, 2024.

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Winter Family Fair

Families can enjoy both manuscripts during the Morgan’s annual Winter Family Fair on Saturday, December 14, from 2pm to 4pm. The Grand Falloons, a company made up of veterans of Broadway, film, television, and the Big Apple Circus, will lead visitors in a lively celebration of A Christmas Carol with strolling characters Ebenezer Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, and the Ghost of Christmas Present. Artmaking and activities for all ages themed to the Museum’s current exhibitions, Belle da Costa Greene: A Librarian’s Legacy and Franz Kafka, will be offered, including book plate creations inspired by the Belle Greene exhibition.

The Morgan is free to children twelve and under. All activities are free with Museum admission.

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The Morgan Shop

Guests can stop by the Shop to purchase holiday gifts such as a variety of A Christmas Carol ornaments, cards, and books. Also available is the book The Morgan Library & Museum: Director’s Choice, in which the Morgan’s director Colin B. Bailey introduces a sampling of the treasured works in the Museum’s outstanding collection. Visit on Museum Store Sunday, December 1, to receive a 10% discount in-store and online (use code MSS10 at check out); Members receive a 20% discount with their usual discount code.

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The Morgan Café

The Morgan Cafe offers a casual dining atmosphere in the glass-enclosed central court, evoking European alfresco dining. A full-service menu offers an array of starters, pastries, main courses, desserts, and beverages. Reservations are not required.

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THE MORGAN LIBRARY & MUSEUM

A museum and independent research library located in the heart of New York City, the Morgan Library & Museum began as the personal library of financier, collector, and cultural benefactor J. Pierpont Morgan (1837–1913). The Morgan offers the public close encounters with great works of human accomplishment in a setting treasured for its intimate scale and historic significance. Its collection of manuscripts, rare books, music, drawings, and works of art comprises a unique and dynamic record of civilization, as well as an incomparable repository of ideas and of the creative process from 4000 BC to the present.

The Morgan Library & Museum | 225 Madison Avenue | 212.685.0008 | themorgan.org

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