"The Birds' Christmas Carol" by Kate Douglas Wiggin, with illustrations by Katharine R. Wireman, published by Houghton Mifflin Company, 1916, "Six Hundred and Forty-first Thousand" is stated on the copyright page. [The book was first printed privately in 1886 and published in 1888. Wiggin published the book to help fund the Silver Street Free Kindergarten, which she founded in 1878].

Hard boards, original publisher's decorated cloth [heavy cloth wear-especially edges, soiling and fading]; 5.1/2" x 7.3/4"; 69 pages + publisher's ad, several page corner folds, soiling and wear, good condition.

Provenance: "Mary Phillips" is ink written inside covers and page# 23, "To Virginia from Lois Moore, 1924" is pencil written on the front endpaper, "Dear mother I love you with" is pencil written inside back cover.

The story is about Carol Bird, a Christmas-born child, a young girl who is unusually loving and generous, having a positive effect on everyone with whom she comes into contact. She is the youngest member of her family and has several devoted older brothers. At about the age of 5, Carol contracts an unspecified illness (possibly tuberculosis), and by the time she is 10, she is bedridden; physicians say that she does not have long to live. Most of the brief novel's plot involves Carol making plans for a Christmas celebration for the nine Ruggles children, a poor, working-class family living near the Birds.

The story is primarily a moral tale about a loving and generous child. However, unlike the children often featured in similar stories of the period, Carol is refreshingly intelligent and cheerful instead of pious. The story is also enlivened by many humorous touches, particularly in the scenes of the Ruggles family's home life.

In 1917, the story was adapted as the silent movie "A Bit o' Heaven" starring Mary Louise as Carol, Donald Watson and Ella Gilbert as Mr. and Mrs. Bird and Mary Talbot as Mrs. Ruggles.

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