The Greatest Gift - a true American classic & holiday inspiration

Every Thanksgiving weekend, I love to get into the holiday spirit by decorating our house, putting up our Christmas tree and watching a few holiday movies. While we usually opt for a comedic classic like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (who doesn't love Cousin Eddie?), this year we chose a true holiday inspiration – It’s a Wonderful Life.  Just last week I read “The Greatest Gift”, the short story on which the movie is based and recently had the pleasure of learning the incredible story behind both the book & movie from one of our retailers, Graphic Image, which has reprinted this timeless tale for us all to share with loved ones this holiday season.


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{adapted from Graphic Image}

In 2009, Tom Glazer, the owner of Graphic Image, found among his father’s literary possessions, an author signed original of one of the first copies of The Greatest Gift – a short holiday novella written in 1943 by a little known author Philip Van Doren Stern who, after having it rejected by The Saturday Evening Post as well as many other magazines, decided to print (200) 4-page pamphlets himself & send them out to family and friends as Christmas cards that year.

In March 1944, Stern received a Western Union telegram with a serious offer to purchase the move rights to The Greatest Gift. $50,000 later, the Hollywood screenplay by Frank Capra was underway and the story that was once a Christmas card is now one of our most beloved holiday stories of all time known as It's a Wonderful Life – a twentieth century story about a man saved from despair by a mysterious stranger who gives him a precious opportunity to understand the difference that his unassuming life makes to the world and those around him, celebrating the difference that each life, no matter how simply lived, can make.

Now, almost 75 years later, this timeless inspiration to the American movie classic is available for the first time as a recreation of the 1943 edition with the original story, as it was written, along with remastered drawings of Rafaello Bussoni’s original woodcut illustrations printed in vintage two color presswork as well as a personal account of its history by the author’s daughter, Marguerite Stern Robinson, describing how this wonderful novella became one of the most popular short stories of all time.

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(100) paper cover limited editions are available for purchase at Papier Gourmet ($25 - while they last!) or leather cover versions can be special ordered and personalized with the lucky recipient’s name or initials ($55 + personalization) - as featured in Martha Stewart Living (Nov 2011). A wonderful reminder to friends and family at this most special time of year of what is truly most important. Consider my heart warmed (and hopefully yours too!) and my Christmas shopping complete. :)

- Pamela


{images courtesy of Graphic Image}