![Eleanor Farjeon. <em>Come Christmas.</em> London: W. Collins Sons & Co., [1927]](https://www.reedgallery.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0006/525228/14a.jpg)
Eleanor Farjeon’s popular volume of Christmas poems for children is deeply imbued with the author’s infectious love of Christmas. Many of her poems have a strong Christian flavour, and some, including ‘The shepherd and the King’ have been set to music in more recent times as Christmas carols.
This Reed volume of Christmas fare for children attempts to attract and hold the attention of youngsters with its variegated menu of poems, carols, illustrations, games, puzzles, short Christmas stories, and historical Christmas anecdotes – including the origins of Christmas cards, Christmas carols, and Christmas dinners, and an account of what Samuel Pepys did on Christmas day.
The book of Christmas: a collection of carols, stories, and games for the Christmas season. Wellington: A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1943.
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With its striking cover image of a manuka tree in flower, the 1933 first edition of First New Zealand Christmases was the inaugural literary collaboration between A.H. and A.W. Reed. Evidently considered an apt Christmas gift, it was a resounding success, selling several thousand copies. Aimed at young readers, it told the story of the Christian origins of European settlement in New Zealand.
After several reprints, First New Zealand Christmases was reissued in a simpler, plainer format in 1955. With its smaller size, larger fonts, use of simpler illustrations and maps, in addition to the removal of busy-looking facsimile materials and narrative asides, it was clearly an attempt to entice younger readers to the true Christmas message. The revised edition, nevertheless, failed to match the success of the manuka-covered original.
A.H. & A.W. Reed. First New Zealand Christmases. New edition. Wellington: A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1955.
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