An amiable history of Christmas - Books About Antiques

Magazine Antiques, Dec, 2002 by Alfred Mayor

The book is bound in electric red cloth, elaborately blind-stamped like a Victorian gift book. The many illustrations, all drawn from the author's enormous collection, are most pleasingly laid out, and the writing is that of a friend of the family just telling you a few things he has learned over the years. In short, it is the perfect gift book, which, unlike its predecessors, will be savored with pleasure.

Inventing Christmas: How Our Holiday Came to Be by Jock Elliott (Harry N. Abrams, 800-288-2129), $24.95 (hardcovers).