The Spirit of Christmas: A History of Best-Loved Carols [Hardcover]

Virginia Reynolds (Author), Lesley Ehlers (Designer)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2000

The history of our best-loved carols, including Silent Night; God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen; Ave Maria; and many more. Gorgeously illustrated throughout with Renaissance art. The enclosed high-quality CD has melodious renditions of the carols,with complete lyrics provided to help you sing along.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 56 pages
• Publisher: Peter Pauper Press (June 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0880884142
• ISBN-13: 978-0880884143
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 6.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,193,826 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars musical magical inspirations, July 13, 2001

By 

Mary (Sunol, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Spirit of Christmas: A History of Best-Loved Carols (Hardcover)

The book A HISTORY OF BEST-LOVED CAROLS THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS by Virginia Reynolds is beautifully put together as a hard bound book. Just to look at it is inspirational. The pictures are spell binding, the written history of the songs are captivating, so very informative and easy to read. The music lifts you to a higher level. The fonts used in the making of the book makes for such a elegant vision to look at. The CD to listen to, is so spirtual that you feel you are in a gothic cathedral. The music gives you chills of spiritual bliss within. It is a sincere gift of heartfelt angelic magical inspiration.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For an accurate history of carols, this is the book to own, January 19, 2005

By 

Bill Egan "Christmas Historian" (Florida USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Spirit of Christmas: A History of Best-Loved Carols (Hardcover)

"The Spirit of Christmas" by Virginia Reynolds, is a well-researched and quite accurate account of the history of Christmas carols

Having done extensive research in Austria on the background of "Silent Night," I can say that this book contains the most accurate story of the carol ever published in the United States - only one small error. Reading through the rest of the carols, it's obvious that the author didn't depend on popular legends and fairytales about the composers and their songs. She obviously did her homework.

The book has beautiful artwork and also comes with a CD of the carols.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Short and sweet stories and beautiful music., July 27, 2009

By 

A mother (SC) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Spirit of Christmas: A History of Best-Loved Carols (Hardcover)

I have read the other comments concerning this cd/book combo and just want to say that it makes a perfect gift for someone who simply enjoys listing to these carols during the holidays. Who really knows the whole truth about them anyway? I think the stories behind the songs are condensed for the lay reader yet very informative. We don't need an exhaustive history, just a little info. The accompanying CD has beautiful versions of the carols, which are often hard to find. (A lot of the CD's out around the holidays are cheesy remixes/arrangements.) The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars was because I personally prefer full choir to solos. Big deal.