George Hinke

We had the 1961 original when I was small, and I loved it. The story was nothing special, but my heavens, the illustrations were fabulous. But it seems likely that my family may have done away with the book, so this year I inter-library-loaned it and was provided with the 1996 "Collector's Edition." The rest of this review (and my 3-star rating) pertains to that.

Most importantly, the illustrations are reduced in size. There's one illustration I don't recall from my childhood, but another that I do recall is missing — the one of the elves' dormitory. How can it be a Collector's Edition if they're leaving stuff out? Then, in the illustration of Santa at his desk reading letters and cataloguing good and bad children, Santa and the elf at the foot of his desk have had their pipes photoshopped out. Plus they left the can of tobacco on Santa's desk and Santa's and the elf's pipe-holding hands are now in odd positions. I mean, really: if you're going to censor, at least do a good job of it. Of course I know why they did it, but having done so would seem to vitiate the claim that it's intended for collectors. Then, of course, there's the absolute ridiculousness of it: the story and illustrations are based on Moore's Visit from St. Nicholas, which reads in part

"The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth;
The smoke, it encircled his head like a wreath."

Santa smokes a damn pipe, people! He just does! Fortunately I've never yet heard of those lines being excised for the benefit of helicopter parents, but the fact that that's so just emphasizes the dumb@$$ery of this so-called "Collector's Edition's" editors.

Summary: if you're looking for the book of your childhood, this probably ain't it. If you're getting it for young children who don't know the original, they won't miss what's missing. If you're getting it as a collectible, you're probably one of those suckers I hear are born every minute.… (altro)