"Donald Duck and the Christmas Carol (1960) - A Little Golden Book - "Stave 3"

Here's "Stave 3" from our breakdown of the 1960 Little Golden Book "Donald Duck and the Christmas Carol."

The Second of the Spirits:

This spirit must be Huey, right, as he's wearing red? Louie has the green scarf and gloves and Dewey the bluish ones.

And good to see Daisy being recruited to help!

Now on to Stave 4!

"Donald Duck and the Christmas Carol (1960) - A Little Golden Book - "Stave 2"

Next we take a look at "Stave 2" of our review of "Donald Duck and the Christmas Carol," a Little Golden Book from 1960.

The First of the Spirits:

I like where this is going!

My theory, by the way, is that this first "spirit" is Louie, as evidenced by the green wreath he's wearing on his head...

Ready for Stave 3?

"Donald Duck and the Christmas Carol (1960) - A Little Golden Book - "Stave 1"

Donald Duck and the Christmas Carol (1960)
A Little Golden Book
Scrooge: Scrooge McDuck

From about the same time period as the collector's plates we were looking at comes some more illustration, this time in the form of a Little Golden Book from 1960 titled "Donald Duck and the Christmas Carol."

Based on the title and the cover art, it may not be apparent that this is a takeoff on "A Christmas Carol" featuring the great Carl Barks character Uncle Scrooge (Scrooge McDuck), years before the album and cartoon versions of "Mickey's Christmas Carol."

I think it's  a lot of fun, with a simple yet effective story (by Annie North Bedford, adapted by Norman McGary - not sure what that means exactly and what about Dickens?) and extremely appealing artwork (credited as by the Walt Disney Studio).

There are 23 pages of story, which are mostly short sentences with big pictures, effect for young readers.

Since the "plot" actually follows the structure of the book fairly closely, I thought it would be fun to break it down into staves.

So, without further ado, here's Stave 1:

One thing I will point out is that Huey's name is spelled as "Hughie" here. Not sure when "Huey" became standardized, but the boys are wearing their established colors: Red (Huey), Blue (Dewey) and Green (Louie).

Stave 2 coming up!

Buffalo Pottery, Inc. - "A Christmas Carol" (1953-1960)

With the popularity of collector's plates and "A Christmas Carol," it's no surprise that there's more than one set of such items.

This next set was issued by Buffalo Pottery, Inc. concurrent with series from Shenango China.

I found issues from 1953 through 1960, but there may be more.

I think this set is interesting as the style varies quite a bit from year to year, although, as far as I can tell, they're all designed by the same artist, Rix Jennings (a cool name!).

Here's a look at the plates, this time arranged by year of issue:

I think they're pretty cool!

Shenango Ceramics, Inc. - "A Christmas Carol" (1949-1963)

"A Christmas Carol" (1949-1963)

Shenango Ceramics, Inc.

We jump ahead a couple of decades for some more illustration, but this time in the form of collector's plates!

This is series of 12 plates issued by the Shenanago Ceramics (and/or China) company from 1949 through 1963.

The first in the series was issued in 1949, the second in 951, then the rest annually from 1954 through 1963.

The scenes depicted on the plates were not issued chronologically plot-wise and I don't see a particular reason why the were issued in the order they were.

Here's a gallery of them, which I arranged in chronological order. You an see the year of issue on the back of each plate...

This was the second-to-last issue, but it's the first scene of the book to be depicted.

This is the last issue. Did they realize they hadn't shown anything ghostly yet?

First in the series. I'm not sure what this represents, but if it's Fezziwig-related, it must be from the past, right?

A nice depiction of the Cratchit family.

Although the feel is similar, you can tell this is a different artist.

Topper! Yay!

Half of the scenes depicted take place after Scrooge's conversion.

Everyone's excited about the turkey!

This would appear to be Scrooge  on his way to Fred's house.

It took him two years to get there, but he held the same pose!

Topper's party? Wait! Hold it!

A nice ending!

I think these are a lot of fun, but imagine waiting 14 years to complete the set!

"Christmas Stories" (1913)

"Christmas Stories" (1913)

Illustrator: Spencer Baird Nichols

We skip ahead a couple of years to this 1913 book of "Christmas Stories" by Charles Dickens with illustrations by Spencer Baird Nichols.

You hear "Dickens" and "Christmas" so you figure one of said stories must be "A Christmas Carol," and indeed it is!

There are only four illustrations for "A Christmas Carol," but they're in color and here they are:

I must admit that I find them a bit, make that very, creepy, Tiny Tim especially. What did 1913 readers think?

"A Christmas Carol" (1911 Edition) - Part 2

Now let's take a look at the black and white interior illustrations from the 1911 edition of "A Christmas Carol" illustrated by A.C. Michael.

Here they are in plot-chronological order:

I think these are nice little vignettes and add a lot, so this would have been a nice edition for a 1911 family to enjoy.

A few of these illustrations were also used on the endpapers of the book, but there's an extra one that is not used within the text and I don't know what it represents.

Take a look...

My first thought was that it's Scrooge going in to Fred's house on Christmas morning, but the man looks too young to be Scrooge and that doesn't appear to the maid letting him in.

So, does that actually represent a scene from the book? I don't think it does. Did they just throw in an additional illustration by A.C. Michael for no apparent reason?

Another mystery!

"A Christmas Carol" (1911 Edition) - Part 1

"A Christmas Carol" (1911 Edition)
Illustrator: A.C. Michael

Here's an edition of "A Christmas Carol" published by New York's Hodder and Stoughton in 1911 with illustrations by A.C. Michael.

There are some color plates as well as black and white.

Here are the color ones in chronological plot order:

I like how Scrooge is keeping a good eye on Cratchit!

This is the only one that shows a ghost.

IS it me or does Fezziwig look like Jackie Gleason? Shades of Rich Little!

Now, that's a Tiny Tim!

I like how Tiny Tim stays "on model" here!

I always like a good Topper!

I think these are really evocative!

Next, the black and white...