Old Santeclaus with Much Delight

The poem, with eight colored engraved illustrations, was published in New York by William B. Gilley in 1821 as a small paperback book entitled '''''The Children's Friend: A New-Year's Present, to the Little Ones from Five to Twelve'''''. The names of the author and the illustrator are not known. The illustrations were reproduced lithographically, the first instance of lithography in the United States. Published in the same city as Washington Irving's earlier portrait of Santa Claus in ''Knickerbocker's History of New York'', the poem may have directly inspired another New Yorker, Clement Clarke Moore, to create the modern Santa in "'Twas the Night before Christmas". ==Development of the Santa Claus figure==

Gilley's book includes some important elements in the early development of Santa Claus: his connection with the northern winter, the reindeer and sleigh, and his arrival on Christmas Eve rather than on 6 December (the traditional feast day of Saint Nicholas). The accompanying engravings are the earliest images of a Santa figure. They show Santeclaus dressed in a red outfit and are the first reference to his being dressed in that color. Santeclaus brings presents only for "good" children, and in the first illustration they are explicitly called "rewards". "Naughty" children receive a "long, black, birchen rod" whose use for parental punishment is endorsed as a "command of God". The text refers to his sleigh's flight over chimney tops, and one of the illustrations depicts it on a roof. ==The poem==

File:The Children's friend. Number III. A New-Year's present, to the little ones from five to twelve. Part III (1821), page 3.jpg|Illustration to verse 3 File:The Children's friend. Number III. A New-Year's present, to the little ones from five to twelve. Part III (1821), pages 4 and 5.jpg|Illustration to verse 4 File:The Children's friend. Number III. A New-Year's present, to the little ones from five to twelve. Part III (1821), pages 4 and 5-2.jpg|Illustration to verse 5 File:The Children's friend. Number III. A New-Year's present, to the little ones from five to twelve. Part III (1821), page 6.jpg|Illustration to verse 6 File:The Children's friend. Number III. A New-Year's present, to the little ones from five to twelve. Part III (1821), page 7.jpg|Illustration to verse 7 File:The Children's friend. Number III. A New-Year's present, to the little ones from five to twelve. Part III (1821), page 8.jpg|Illustration to verse 8 ==See also==