2016 January 14

They may not look like much, but they’re precision exercises. (→)

Commentary

(On a photo in a secret group) – It’s legible, but the camera may focus better automatically if light shines directly on it {the subject}. (I stood near a lamp to photograph my drawing exercises.)

Wiki activity

(“Santa Claus,” Public Domain Super Heroes) {Added some appearances, some links and other stuff.}

First appearance | Folklore of the English (as Father Christmas), Dutch (as Sinterklaas), American (as Santa Claus) and Slavic (as Ded Moroz) peoples

Created by | Unknown

• A History of New York, from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty …, by Diedrich Knickerbocker (pseudonym of Washington Irving), 1809. Much of what makes Santa Claus distinct from Father Christmas and Sinterklaas originated in this book. (vol. 1 and vol. 2 on the Internet Archive)

• A New‐Year’s Present, to the Little Ones from Five to Twelve, part 3, The Children’s Friend, vol. 3, 1821. (Yale U. Library)

• “Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas,” by Clement Clarke Moore, The Troy Sentinel, 23 Dec. 1823. (page online)

— Reprinted many times, including in The New‐York Book of Poetry, 1837. (Internet Archive) …

… [St. Nicholas] (magazine, 1873–1922) …

… [“Jolly Old St. Nicholas”] 1881

• “The Story of King Frost,” The Yellow Fairy Book, ed. Andrew Lang, 1894. (Internet Archive)

• “Is There a Santa Claus?” …, by Francis Pharcellus Church, The Sun, 21 Sept. 1897.