The Night Before Christmas

About this book

This poem first appeared in a newspaper in Troy New York USA on December 23 1823 as "A Visit From St. Nicholas". No one claimed authorship until 13 years later. Clement Clarke Moore a professor and poet said that he wrote the piece for his children. Unbeknownst to him his housekeeper had sent it to the newspaper to be published. However the family of Henry Livingston Jr. contended that their father had been reciting A Visit from St. Nicholas for 15 years prior to publication. Regardless of the true author the poem is now a Christmas classic.