Introduction

Having done previous research on Anne Carroll Moore, I was hoping to view one of her published works in person for this book study. Thankfully, the Los Angeles Public Library's Central Branch owns several of her published works in their children's book collection including a 1924 edition of Nicholas: A Manhattan Christmas Story (see Figure 1). They also hold copies of Nicholas and the Golden Goose and Moore's non-fiction book for children entitled My Roads to Childhood: View and Reviews of Children's Books. However, the physical attributes of the latter works were not as interesting as those of Nicholas: A Manhattan Christmas Story.  Luckily, this book was available in a circulating copy so I was able to examine the book more in-depth at home.

Figure 1 

Anne Carroll Moore, a visionary in children's library services, was also publishing her own works for children during the progressive 1920s. In 1924, Nicholas: A Manhattan Christmas Story was revered by children's librarians across the country and was also a Newberry Honor Book the following year. However, today it is considered by most modern reviewers to be a terrible work of fiction. Online reviews from readers and librarians alike describe this book as confusing, meaningless, and ephemeral (Goodreads.com). Having read the book myself, I disagree. I personally find Moore's characters charming and the story an enjoyable adventure. Regardless of personal tastes, Moore's books for children during this time were largely read and commercially successful suggesting a cultural importance.

This book study attempts to gain insight into the significance of Moore's 1924 work, Nicholas: A Manhattan Christmas Story, by analyzing its historical context and physical characteristics, such as binding, collation, and printing.

Historical Context

Children's Literature Before and During the 1920s

Written in 1924, Nicholas: A Manhattan Christmas Story was published during a time when many social

Figure 2
(Image from graphicsfairy.com)

changes were taking place and, therefore, the view of childhood was much more progressive than in previous time periods. The enlightened period of the 17th century was full of didactic children's literature advising children how to be better citizens. In the 1800s to the early 1900s, came the Victorian, or the Golden Age, of children's literature which featured an idealized view of childhood with saint-like child characters (see Figure 2).

Figure 3
(Image from Amazon.com)

The 1920s brought a wealth of books created simply for entertainment including Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne (see Figure 3) and Dr. Doolittle (see Figure 4) by Hugh Lofting. These books were written about imaginative and sometimes strange characters on enjoyable adventures (Tomeo, 2014) with little moral lesson.  Moore's Nicholas: A Manhattan Christmas Story bears these qualities. Nicholas, the main character, is actually an eight inch Dutch wooden doll who the world already seems to know and love as people call his name and say hello to him everywhere he goes. Stranger yet, the doll embarks on a journey in which he takes a tour of New York City.

Figure 4
(Image from pauahtun.org)

The Roaring Twenties

The freedom and progressiveness present in children's literature during the 1920s reflected those same qualities present  in 1920s American society.  Often referred to as the roaring twenties, 1920s America was a time of widespread growth and economic prosperity. Driven by a recovery from wartime economics, the United States was suddenly booming financially and industrially and it was at this time that the U.S. first took its place as richest country in the world (Soule, 1947).

Women in the 1920s

During World War I, many women took on dangerous and "masculine" jobs while men were overseas. After the war ended and men returned home, many women, now having experienced the workforce, continued to see out work rather than return to housewifery. However, since men had returned to the manual labor jobs, woman were taking on different type of work now including secretarial, teaching, and nursing positions. This shift in the workforce, with women now able to make their own income, paved the way for more independence and freer way of life for woman in general. The lifestyle of many women in the 1920s changed dramatically; they now felt free to smoke, drink, date and dance at their leisure. The changes to the fashion and hairstyles of the time were also dramatic; they now were both shorter and less constricted.

Figure 5
(Image from vintageperiods.com)

Suffrage 

While the role of woman changed dramatically both socially and culturally, their role in politics changed as well. In 1920, the 19th Amendment was passed which allowed woman the right to vote (see Figure 5). Then, In 1923, many woman fought for even more rights for woman by introducing the Equal Rights Amendment which would allows for less discrimination of women in other areas aside from voting. These woman were quite head of their time as this amendment would unfortunately not go on to be passed by congress until the 1970s (Woloch, 2002). Anne Carroll Moore's life of continuing education and strong leadership roles reflects the progressive stance woman were taking during the 1920s in America.

Prohibition

From 1920 to 1933, the "sale, production, importation, and transportation of alcoholic beverages" was banned in the United States via the Eighteenth Amendment (see Figure 6). This movement was led by pietistic Protestants, social progressives and the Anti-Saloon League. However, in 1933, the twenty-first Amendment repealed the eighteenth Amendment and nationwide prohibition ended. 

Figure 6
(Image from Getty Images)

Harlem Renaissance

During the 1920s, African Americans in urban areas, such as Harlem, began their own socially progressive movement known as the "New Negro Movement" which resulted in one of the most influential times in African American culture. Participants in the Harlem Renaissance, as it was called, sought to reconceptualize the idea of the black American apart from the stereotypes pushed upon them by whites which had influenced how blacks interacted with one another and their past. Black Americans involved with this movement also wished to break away from the Puritan morals and shame used by whites to reinforce racist beliefs. During this time, literature, music, and many other forms of creative expression and intellect were at an all time high for black Americans and this cultural awakening set the stage for future black empowerment movements. (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2014)

Other major social movements happening during the 1920s in the United states include the art-deco movement, expressionism, and surrealism. All of these movements reflect the spirit of progressivism that was in the air and this enthusiasm produced "a climate for reform" (Gerster & Cords, 1977) which lasted well beyond the 1920s.

Anne Carroll Moore

Anne Carroll Moore (see Figures 7 & 8) was born in 1871 in Limerick, Maine and was the youngest of ten children. Moore hoped to become a lawyer like her father Luther and attended two universities in hopes of attaining this goal. However, upon the death of both her parents and her sister-in-law, which took place just a small time apart from one other, her plans were put on hold. Moore spent the next several years raising the children of her widowed brother Harry. Eventually, it was Harry who suggested Moore consider becoming a librarian, an emerging profession at the time. Moore was eventually accepted into a one-year library science program at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York (Hildenbrand, 1996).

Figure 7
 (Image from recess.ufl.edu)

It was here at Pratt, upon graduation, that Moore was propositioned to organize a children's room at the institute. Prior to this, children were usually "considered a nuisance in library settings" (Lepore, 2008) and were often not even allowed to patronize libraries until they were teenagers. Moore did what no one before her had done: she visited kindergartens, toured diverse communities in the area, and even conducted informal surveys with children on the street - all to get a sense of what she needed to include in her children's reading room. Moore eventually decided on specific child-sized furniture, reading nooks, puppets, story times, and other welcoming aspects for the Pratt Library's children's room. The children's area was an enormous success; on opening day the line of children waiting for entry circled the block (Lepore, 2008).

Moore remained a librarian at the Pratt library for ten years. In 1906 when she was made head of children's library services for the New York Public Library system where she stayed until 1941. It was during her time at the Pratt Library that Moore published over ten books, including this study's focus, Nicholas: A Manhattan Christmas Story published in 1924 which went on to become a Newberry Honor Book the very next year. Other works by Moore include a second Nicholas story called Nicholas and the Golden Goose, published too in 1924 and an autobiography entitled My Roads to childhood published in 1920 (Hildenbrand, 1996).

Figure 8
Anne Carroll Moore at the New York Public Library, 1914
(Image from missmoorethoughtotherwise.com)

In 1941, Moore officially retired. After her retirement she wrote, taught, and remained active in the library science world for her remaining years until she passed away in 1961 at the age of 90 (Cummins, 1999).

Nicholas Knickerbocker

Anne Carroll Moore, while a visionary in children's library services, possessed a more eccentric and imaginative side. Around 1920, Moore was gifted a small wooden doll approximately eight inches tall and dressed in traditional dutch clothing. Upon receiving the gift, Moore named him Nicholas Knickerbocker and began using him as an aid in her storytimes and on her tours of various schools and hospitals. However, soon Nicholas began to develop a "personality" of sorts, courtesy of Moore's imagination, and began to travel with Moore everywhere she went. Moore considered Nicholas her dearest friend and a human being and insisted others treat him as such; finding her eccentricity amusing and harmless those around her cooperated with warmth (Eddy, 2006).

Nicholas even began "writing" his own letters to Moore's friends on his own stationary with Moore's friends responding. Soon, not only were friends responding to Nicholas's letters but authors, artists and the like were sending mail as well. These letters often times came with elaborate miniature gifts made just for Nicholas (see Figures 9, 10 & 11) (Eddy, 2006).

Figure 9
Letter and miniature golden egg for Nicholas
(Image from missmoorethoughtotherwise.com)

Figure 10
Miniature handmade book for Nicholas
(Image from missmoorethoughtotherwise.com)

Figure 11
Miniature toolbox and tools for Nicholas (Note Nicholas's name etched into saw blade).
(Image from missmoorethoughtotherwise.com)

No photos of Nicholas Knickerbocker exist to this day; however, a small print located on the the very last page of Nicholas: A Manhattan Christmas Story (see Figure 12) probably depicts his likeness. Also, a children's book, published in 2013, entitled Miss Moore Thought Otherwise: How Anne Carroll Moore Created Libraries for Children depicts Nicholas in several illustrations (see Figure 13).

Figure 12

Figure 13
(Image from missmoorethoughtotherwise.com)

Printer, Publisher, & Place of Publication

Nicholas: A Manhattan Christmas Story was first published in 1924 by G.P. Putnam's Sons and printed by The Knickerbocker press, both of the same facility in New York.

Figure 14
George Palmer Putnam
(Image from A Memoir of George Palmer Putnam, 1903)

In 1838, George Palmer Putnam (see Figure 14), a bookseller from New York, partnered with John Wiley founding Wiley & Putnam, a retail book selling business. Soon, the company expanded to publishing. However, just ten years later, Wiley and Putnam parted ways leaving George Putnam to run the business on his own. George Putnam is said to have had an "astute sense of literary foresight" (Penguin Group, 2014) as he first published prestigious authors such as Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne.

When G.P. Putnam passed away in 1872, his three sons took over the business, its name changing to G.P. Putnam's Sons. Just two years later, the company established its own printing facilities division called the Knickerbocker Press located in the Knickerbocker Press Building (see Figure 15).

Figure 15
(Image from wordpress.com)

Today, G.P. Putnam's Sons is an imprint of Penguin Books but remains a leader in the publishing industry having published more New York Times bestsellers than any other imprint in the business. (Penguin Group, 2014).

Printer's Device & Type-face

Printing, or "the technique of making an impression on paper from inked type" (Britain inprint.net, 2014) is considered the most important contribution to the publishing of the written word in that it "permits a large number of copies" (Britaininprint.net, 2014) to be made from the same type setting. 

Figure 16
(Image from biography.com)

Printing first developed in Korea and China during the 7th century and was first done using wooden blocks. Later on, in the 14th century, metal type printing was developed. Around the same time, craftsmen in Europe, on their own, developed similar printing techniques. In the mid-15th century, Johan Gutenberg (see Figure 16), invented movable type, or a type setting that was made up of individual letters rather than entire pages. This way, the letters could be moved to form different words and used over and over to print other books. Gutenberg's movable type printing press is regarded as a "landmark in the history of printing, and of western civilization" (Britaininprint.net, 2014).  

Type-face, or "the design of letters used in printed books" has changed dramatically since Gutenberg's time. However, many type-faces still used today, such as Roman type face, were actually designed by earlier printers in the 15th and 16th centuries (Britaininprint.net, 2014).  

While Gutenberg invented the printing press in Germany, printing using movable type spread to other parts of Europe, including Italy. Italian printers designed type-faces inspired by manuscripts At first, the most common movable type face was Black-letter; however, with its flourishes and curves it was nearly illegible at times. Soon, German monks, living outside of Rome, began to avoid Black-letter, and instead used Roman letters which were appreciated for their "clarity and regularity" (Britaininprint.net, 2014).  Roman type-faces eventually spread to other European countries and were enormously popular for printing classical works as well as scholarly materials. Characteristics of Roman type-face include more rounded letters and superior "readability and appeal to the eye" (Spokane Falls Community College, 2014).

The 1924 edition of Nicholas: A Manhattan Christmas Story, with its clear, regular and rounded letters, is printed in a Roman type-face, most likely Baskerville (see Figures 17 & 18). Baskerville is a "transitional serif typeface" (Pincus, Berry & Johnson, 1953) designed by John Baskerville in 1757 in an effort to improve legibility by increasing contrast between the thin and thick areas of a letter. In general, the type-face is more circular in shape than other Roman type-faces. 

Figure 17
Close of up of type-face of Nicholas: A Manhattan Christmas Story

Figure 18
Example of Baskerville type-face
(Image from wikipedia.org)

During the 1920's, stereotyping, or printing using papier-mache and molds (see Video 1), was popular. Therefore, it is very possible that Nicholas: A Manhattan Christmas Story was printed using this process. Stereotyping required a mold made from papier-mache to be made of a page of type. Then molten metal was poured into the mold to create an identical metal plate. This way, the same book could be printed over and over without having to move the type for each page back again (American Printing Association, 2014). 

Video 1

A clip from a silent film which shows the process of stereotyping, 1925

(Video from Oxford Academic)

Illustrations

The illustrations for Nicholas: A Manhattan Christmas Story were done by Jay Van Everen who lived from 1875 to 1947 (Whitney Museum of Art, 1972). Van Everen was born in Westchester, New York and attended the Cornell School of Architecture. He remained mostly in the world of academia studying at several art schools and producing paintings like murals and illustrations for various parties. He was also affiliated with the synchromism art movement that was based on the relationship between color, music, shape, and form (Roberts, 1988). Because Van Everen's art did not receive much acclaim publicly, his work remained largely unknown until 1972 when the Whitney Museum of Art in New York came across a collection of his work stored in their permanent collection including paintings, watercolors, and drawings. These works (see Figures 19, 20, & 21) contain attention to both shape and precision, reflections of his role in the synchromism movement and his background in architecture. 

Figure 19
Painting by Jay Van Everen (Unknown Title and Mediums)
(Image from Archive.org)

Figure 20
Painting by Jay Van Everen (Unknown Title and Mediums)
(Image from Askart.com)

Figure 21
Untitled Watercolor and Ink on Paper by Jay Van Everen
(Image from Caldwellgallery.com)

Decorated and illustrated books can be divided into two time periods: one, the MS period, or the period before printing was invented, and two, the period of printed books seen after the invention of the printing press which took place in mid-fifteenth century (Crane, 1905).  Nicholas: A Manhattan Christmas Story was published in 1924, after the invention of the printing press.

The illustrations are printed in black ink only and are what could be characterized as "stamp-like" in that the illustrations are usually contained with a shape such as an oval or a square (see Figures 22 & 23). 

Figure 22

The illustrations are also extremely measured; the pictures are very precise made from thick, bold, intentional lines and are in no way loose or sketch-like. The precision and the presence of shape seen in these illustrations is similar to Everen's regular works of art in that they, again, seem to reflect his background in architecture as well as his involvement with the synchromism movement. 

Figure 23

Despite their precise layout, the illustrations are often times quite fantastical in content. For example, this illustration (see Figure 24) is of Nicholas riding Gunther, a giant tortoise he meets at the Bronx Zoo. These imaginative illustrations are common in children's literature during the 1920s when books for children were written with only entertainment in mind. 

Figure 24

Illumination & Painting

While Nicholas: A Manhattan Christmas Story has black printed illustrations throughout, the book lacks any other illuminations or paintings. This is most unfortunate, for the story, with its fun characters, location, and Christmas aspect, would surely be aided by illuminations or colorful paintings. A search done for any modern reprints which might include such accoutrements revealed the book was only ever printed with black illustrations and is now out of print entirely.

Color Printing

No color printing is used in this copy or edition of Nicholas: A Manhattan Christmas Story. All text and illustrations are printed in black ink only (see Figure 25).

Figure 25

Book Size & Format

The size of a book is usually measured using the height against the leaf width but a book can also be measured by the height against the cover width. These book size measurements have been categorized by library science personnel and publishers into a set of technical terms used to indicate the format of the book. Nicholas: A Manhattan Christmas Story is Duodecimo, also known as Twelvemo (see Figure 26) (Trussel.com, 2014).

Figure 26

The book's size is approximately 7 3/8 inces high by 5 inches wide by 1 1/2 inches deep (see Figures 27, 28, & 29).

Figure 27
7 3/8" High

Figure 28
5" Wide

Figure 29
1 1/2" Deep

Binding

Figure 30

Bookbinding, or the process of "physically assembling a book from a number of folded or unfolded sheets of paper or other material" (Vaughan, 2013), was, at first, done by hand. However, later on, machines were used to complete the binding on books. In hand-binding, the spine is sewn and the cover is "applied gradually, step by step, as permanently as possible, so that the binding becomes an integral part of the book" (Avrin, 1991, p. 301).  In machine-made binding, begun in the 1890s, the binding case is created separately from the book itself and then glued onto the spine later. 
The binding of Nicholas: A Manhattan Christmas Story is bound in a standard hardcover case binding. In case binding, the pages are arranged in signatures and then glued and sewn together to form a text block. The text block is then glued to the cover. Due to this process, many machine-made books are rapidly deteriorating faster than their hand-made counterparts. This book is no exception. 

This 1924 edition of Nicholas: A Manhattan Christmas Story used for this study is in rough physical condition. This book has massive water and smoke damage (see Figure 30) most likely from the 1986 fire at the Los Angeles Central Library where nearly twenty percent of the library's volumes were destroyed, many located in the antique book rooms (Los Angeles Fire Department Historical Society, 2014). Aside from the water and smoke damage, the book's binding is significantly loose and torn at all edges (see Figure 31) and the casing on the spine is no longer glued or connected to the spine itself (see Figure 32).

Figure 31

Figure 32

Collation

Nicholas: A Manhattan Christmas Story is 332 pages in length and contains 18 chapters and 30 illustrations. The book begins with a blank front flyleaf, followed by a formal title page and copyright information. A dedication page (see Figure 33) follows which bears this text in mostly capital letters:

Figure 33

To

THE CHILDREN OF NEW YORK

AND 

HIS FRIENDS EVERYWHERE

NICHOLAS DEDICATES THIS BOOK

Following the dedication page is the table of contents which takes up the front and back side of one leaf. The table of contents lists the chapter both by number, title, and beginning page number (see Figure 34).

Figure 34

After the table of contents page, a "Pictures" table of contents follows (see Figure 35). This list of illustrations contains a title for each illustration such as, "Nicholas Sails" and indicates what page number each illustration can be found. 

Figure 35

Directly after the tables of contents, a frontispiece is home to the first illustration of the book (see Figure 36), an image that the pictures table of contents calls "The Coming of Nicholas".

Figure 36

After the frontispiece, a second title page occurs that just bears the book's title (see Figure 37).

Figure 37

The rest of the text of the book follows. At the end of the book a final illustration appears called, "Nicholas Writes John Moon" (see Figure 38) and then a back flyleaf and back pastedown end the novel.

Figure 38

All pages of the book are present; no portions of the book are missing.

Colophon

A colophon, or "an inscription recording information relating to the circumstances of the production" of a printed book or the "emblem or device of a publishing house" can be seen within the beginning pages of Nicholas: A Manhattan Christmas Story. Located on the back side of the main title page, on the copyright page, is the publishing emblem of Knickerbocker Press in New York (see Figure 39).

Figure 39

The emblem, centered and located at the bottom of the page, is around one inch tall and is about half an inch wide. The emblem's design features a sailing ship on top of a crest-like shape which bears the words, "The Knickerbocker Press - New York".  Below this logo are the words, "Made in the United States of America".

Title Page

The first title page (see Figure 40) of Nicholas: A Manhattan Christmas Story appears just after the book's two front flyleaves. At the very top of the page, centered horizontally and vertically, is the title of the book followed by the author's name. Below the author's name, towards the center of the

Figure 40

page, is the illustrator's name, Jay Van Everen. The printer's mark follows which is in the shape of a solid black evergreen tree (see Figure 41). At the bottom of the page, below the printer's mark, is the publishing information which is as follows:

G.P. Putnam's Sons

New York & London

The Knickerbocker Press

Figure 41

Also present on the title page are various stamps and marks made over the years by the Los Angeles Public Library. For instance, visible at the the very bottom of the page, is the date stamp July 30 1935 (see Figure 42) which probably indicates the day the library processed the book for their collection.

Figure 42

Just after the first title page, several other pages follow which include copyright information, a dedication, the table of contents, a picture index, as well as a printed image of Nicholas Knickerbocker. Just following that printed image is the second title page that simply houses the title of the story, centered horizontally and vertically. (see Figure 43).

Figure 43

Endleaves, Flyleaves, & Pastedowns

The endleaves and flyleaves of Nicholas: A Manhattan Christmas Story are made from the same color and type of paper as the rest of the book and are made of one, two sided page (see Figure 44). Both the front and endleaves are still intact but fairly stained due to the water and fire damage sustained by the book itself. They also contain no writing or markings at all. 

Figure 44

The front and back pastedowns are made from thin gray-colored paper (see Figure 45).  

Figure 45

A library pocket, added by the Los Angeles Public Library, is glued to the cover side of the front pastedown. The library pocket not only bears the author's name as "Moore, Annie Carroll" which has been corrected with pen to say "Anne", but it also possesses a penned-in note indicating the book was a Newbery Honor Book in 1925 (see Figures 46 and 47). Inside the pocket, no punch or stamp card remains. 

Figure 46

Figure 47

Page Layout

The text of Nicholas: A Manhattan Christmas Story is centered horizontally and vertically on each page.
The margins on each page are approximately three quarters of an inch on the sides and approximately one inch on the top and bottom of the page. The title of the chapter appears in all capital letters at the top of each page within that chapter (see Figure 48).

Figure 48

On the first page of each chapter a fairly large illustration proceeds the text taking up nearly half the page. Just after the illustration, a chapter number, written in all capital letters and consisting of roman numerals, follows. After the numerical heading is the chapter title such as "A Christmas Sail to Richmond" also in all capital letters (see Figure 49). Again, the illustration and each of these headings are centered horizontally and vertically within the page.

Figure 49