Probably there are thousands of books and short stories about Christmas, from unknown writers to classic books. No matter how know are those stories, the important is share them, is spread this culture, right? Based on this idea of share the myths, popular culture and legends about Christmas and it’s meanings I made a small research for works in in public domain and that is what I got:
Noël D’antan is an special site from the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec about Christmas, presenting images, short stories, partitions and songs.(via La Bibliothèque électronique du Québec)
Project Gutenberg is a paradise for old texts and images. If you are searching for a classic it’s probably there, in English and in the original language. That’s why I searched for books and texts about Christmas there and the result was this list with 95 books. Maybe it’s too many, that’s why I selected some to inspire you to search for more:
- A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, illustrated by John Leech, or this other version, illustrated by George Alfred Williams
- A Christmas Sermon by Robert Louis Stevenson
- A Christmas Mystery by William John Locke, illustrated by Blendon Campbell
- A Little Book for Christmas by Cyrus Townsend Brady, illustrated by Will Crawford
- A Versailles Christmas-Tide by Mary Stuart Boyd, illustrated by A. S. Boyd
- A Christmas Story – Man in His Element: or, A New Way to Keep House by Samuel W. Francis
- On Christmas Day In The Evening by Grace S. Richmond, illustrated by Charles M. Relyea
- The Abbot’s Ghost, or Maurice Treherne’s Temptation by Louisa May Alcott
- The Burglar and the Blizzard – A Christmas Story by Alice Duer Miller, illustrated by Charlotte Harding
- The Romance of a Christmas Card by Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin illustrated by Alice Ercle Hunt
- The Spirit of Christmas by Henry Van Dyke
- The Witch and other stories by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
- The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Volume 4 (of 
by Guy de Maupassant
- Twas the Night before Christmas: A Visit from St. Nicholas by Clement Clarke Moore, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith
The Canadian site Canoë selected seven Christmas short-stories for children: Noël et les fêtes 2006. (via La Bibliothèque électronique du Québec)
Among the great collection of texts of books in public domain of La Bibliothèque électronique du Québec you will find texts about Christmas too (all in PDF version):
- Cantique de Noël by Charles Dickens (the French version of A Christmas Carol
- Contes de Noël – anthology
- Contes de Noël by Joséphine Dandurand, also available at Project Gutenberg
- Noël au Québec: contes, récits et souvenirs
- La Noël au Canada: contes et récits by Louis Fréchette
And for last, but not least Christmas Stories, Poems and Essays by Ellis Parker Butler. It’s part of the archive of Ellis Parker Butle, that has a very nice collection of vintage covers of magazines where he worked.
