The staff of the Ryerson & Burnham Libraries wishes you a happy new year! The reading room w

The staff of the Ryerson & Burnham Libraries wishes you a happy new year! The reading room will be closed on Monday, January 1, re-opening at 1:00 on Tuesday, January 2. In the meantime, here are some 15th-century New Year’s greetings:

A woodcut from 1466 with an image of a ship reading “A good new year;”

a woodcut from 1470 depicting the new year, in the form of a child, at the city gate;

a woodcut from 1482, printed by Peter Drach, of Speyer, from a drawing by the Master of the Housebook;

a woodcut dated between 1450 and 1465 with an image of a ship and a child bringing good luck for the new year; and

The title page for Paul Heitz’s 1917 book, in which these images are found.

The publication consists of a brief essay on the New Year’s greeting tradition, followed by a checklist and a series of plates illustrating 30 examples of these greetings, most of which feature the Christ child representing the promise of the new year. These ephemeral prints would be given to friends on single sheets, or used by printers to decorate calendars.

We wish all of you exciting research voyages and the very best of luck in 2018.