Joy to the World: A Victorian Christmas [Hardcover]

Cynthia Hart (Author), John Grossman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 11, 1990

Text by Priscilla Dunhill. The Christmas we love today sprang from the festive parlors and bedecked halls of a century ago, where it lives still in the lush pages of Joy to the World. A specially embossed and die-cut jacket wraps the book like a precious gift.

Selection of the Literary Guild and the Better Homes & Gardens Family Book Service. 199,000 copies in print.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Cynthia Hart is a renowned designer and artist, and the owner/curator of The Cynthia Hart Collection of Cherished Images. She is the author of Cynthia Hart’s Victoriana Calendar, Cynthia Hart's Scrapbook Workshop, The Love of Lace, Parlor Cats, and other books. Her designs have been licensed to fragrance, gift, stationery, and home furnishing companies. Her studio is in New York City.



John Grossman is the owner/curator of the John Grossman Collection of Antique Images, with more than 50,000 pieces, and president of The Gifted Line™, a nationally known gift paper company. He is co-author of Nonsense & Common Sense, A Victorian Scrapbook, Forget-Me-Nots, Joy to the World, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas: A Victorian Caroling Kit.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: Workman Publishing Company; First Edition edition (January 11, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0894808257
• ISBN-13: 978-0894808258
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 7.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #835,348 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Almost Perfect but...., December 4, 2000

By 

Ken Roberts "social historian" (Michigan United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Joy to the World: A Victorian Christmas (Hardcover)

Pretty much the complete history of Christmas in a nutshell is lavishly illustrated here in this beautifully colorful (and I DO mean colorful) book. Of course, the concentration here is on the 19th century-pretty much the LATE 19th century. If you want to know how our great and great great grandparents may have celebrated this glorious holiday-and how they would have SEEN this holiday-it doesn't get any better. Now for my complaint-and it is a big one-although it is only one line in the book. I shall quote it here from page 21: "The creche as a symbol of the Christ Child's birth derived from the fictitious but touching story of an adolescent Mary, great with child, and her gentle middle aged husband Joseph." FICTITIOUS? I'm sorry but that is the basis, the beginning of the whole Christian faith. Without that 'fictitious' birth...well....this is not the place for preaching. The Catholics and Protestants (and many others, I'm sure) know, though. It did put a damper on the rest of the book for me, but I will stand by my review that for the pictures and the history, it truly is excellent. The authors just have to leave out their opinions when writing on a subject that, like it or not, is very religious in nature-and, believe me, a Christmas in Victorian times is\was truly religious. That's why it got a 4 instead of a 5.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best of past seasonal cheer, January 20, 2010

By 

Robin Benson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Joy to the World: A Victorian Christmas (Hardcover)

I bought this lovely book and A Victorian Scrapbook, also by Cynthia Hart, recently and what a treat both books are. Though this Christmas book is a bit smaller than the Scrapbook (check out the Product Details) it is crammed with a wonderful selection of Victorian Yuletide ephemera, mostly I assume from John Grossman's collection.

Turn the pages and be overwhelmed with a visual treat of paper Father Christmases (and here and there also called Kris Kringle) angels, cut-out Christmas trees, seasonal cards, snow scenes and more. The text covers all the myths and legends and it'll leave you with a pleasant glow before you even get to the last page. But what makes this book rather special is the production. There plenty of books that cover an old-fashioned Christmas but very few look as good as this one. From the embossed cover, with a die-cut shape, end-papers (with a space to fill in a name) title spread, Contents and the rest of the book, everything is considered: typography; layout; printing and paper, it all comes together to make the perfect book.

A Yuletide treat!

***SEE INSIDE THE BOOK by clicking 'customer images' under the cover.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Merry Christmas !!, April 21, 2009

By 

Cathy Holt "paper,art doll and print artist" (kelso Wa.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Joy to the World: A Victorian Christmas (Hardcover)

This book is great for both Decopauge and Christmas collections. It is also full of for Victorian images. I recommend it to anyone