Shaped as a cocktail-shaker, this Prohibition era parody reimagines Santa Claus as a bootlegger with cronies instead of reindeer. Rather than highlighting regional idiosyncrasies, A Modern Version makes fun of the nation-wide alcohol ban and the lengths people would go to in order to secure a seasonal cocktail. It is also interesting to note that this version was sent out as a Christmas card to friends of the Cary family, who were the owners and founders of the Press of the Wooly Whale. The mission of this press was to publish unknown, overlooked, and rejected works, which might explains why the Carys sent out this rendering of the christmas poem instead of the original one.

A Modern Version of the Night Before Christmas
By Robert McBlair
Printed by Melbert B. Cary, Jr.
New York, NY: Press of the Woolly Whale, 1932

Nancy H. Marshall "A Visit From St. Nicholas" Collection
Rare Book PS3525 .A1186 M63 1932