Puck Christmas

Santa sinks into a green wingback chair, a tankard in one hand, boots resting on a sack of toys, while a small child in pink stands at his knee holding an open picture book. On its page, unmistakably, is the Puck sprite. A doll and building blocks lie on the yellow floor; on the wall behind, cut-out shadows of children file toward the scene. Samuel Ehrhart keeps the tone domestic and warm, the reds and greens turned up for the holiday press. PUCK crowns the top; CHRISTMAS - 1896 spans the foot in green. The book within the cover is the whole idea: the child believes in Santa, and the magazine, catching itself in the child's hands, quietly recruits the next generation of readers.