Puck Christmas 1905

Carl Hassmann's cover for *Puck* (Vol. LVIII, No. 1501, price 25 cents) frames Santa Claus and a young woman inside a holly-and-mistletoe wreath tied with a lavender bow. Santa, rendered in the round-cheeked, rosy European tradition, leans in to kiss the woman's cheek while she smiles with knowing amusement. The composition is sentimental rather than satirical—unusual for *Puck*, which typically deployed its covers as political broadsides. No caption beyond "Christmas 1905" appears. The image reflects the magazine's occasional commercial holiday mode. Copyrighted by Keppler & Schwarzmann, the established New York firm that had published *Puck* since 1877.