The First Noel, The Birth of Christ from the Gospel according to Saint Luke. Illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen. Golden Press, 1959. (Christmas in Israel, c.4 BC)

The text for this book is simply taken from scripture, Luke 2:1-20, King James Version. The end papers consist of just the words from Isaiah 9:6-7, “For unto us a child’s born . . .” But the typeface is beautiful, and along with the illustrations, it looks a little bit like an illuminated medieval manuscript. Just a beautiful book, telling a beautiful story.

Interestingly enough for 1959, almost all of the people in the book are varying shades of dark-skinned–brown, tan, black . . . The angels’ faces, however, are white/colorless??? I don’t know what’s up with that, but I did think it was intriguing—and uncharistically accurate. The book has a bit of an Orthodox or Middle Eastern feel to it with round halos around the heads of Mary and Joseph and the angels and Jesus and onion domes and arches on many of the buildings.

Anyway, this book would be lovely introduction to the story of Jesus’ birth for preschoolers and primary aged children, or even older. And it’s long and sort of tall, 9″ x 5″, just the right size to tuck into a Christmas stocking. Unfortunately, it’s a unicorn, out of print, selling for over a hundred dollars a copy on Amazon. If you see a copy at a used book sale or thrift shop, grab it.

If you’re interested in this book or in the work of Alice and Martin Provensen, there’s a new book, published just this year (2022), called The Art of Alice and Martin Provensen. It’s a book showcasing the Provensens’ artwork, with some tributes contributed by their daughter Karen Provensen Mitchell, publisher Robert Gottleib, and children’s literature expert Leonard S. Marcus. (It’s still in print, and much less expensive than The First Noel.)