Sloan, John. CHRISTMAS DINNERS. Etching, 1909. Morse 149. Edition of 100, of which 75 were printed. This copy unsigned, but titled "Xmas Dinners" in what appears to be Sloan's hand. 2 3/4 x 4 3/4 inches (plate), 6 1/4 x 7 inches (sheet). In excellent condition. This may be a trial proof before the editioning; Morse quotes Sloan "Made the plate, proofed about 26 proofs and sent one to Dolly. We are going to send these around as Xmas Greetings to some of our friends." He also quotes a letter to Dolly of the same date saying "...I will have about 20 proofs tonight..."Morse says "This was the first in a long series of Christmas and New Year's etchings done by Sloan for his friends and only later issued in published editions." Sloan's practice was to handwrite a greeting from him and Dolly, and to sign it, so the fact that this is unsigned may imply that it was among those he printed, but that it was never sent as a Greeting. Morse also notes that "Platt is known to have had this plate," raising the possibility that Sloan sent it to Peter Platt, who he used frequently as a printer, to complete the edition, that Platt printed this, and perhaps other examples, but that the edition was not completed.
