Poems for Christmas is a gorgeous gift anthology guaranteed to get you in the festive spirit.

Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library, a series of stunning pocket-sized classics with bespoke endpapers and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition features an introduction by Judith Flanders, author of Christmas: A Biography.

Through the generations, poets from William Shakespeare to Thomas Hardy and from John Donne to Christina Rossetti have been inspired to celebrate the Christmas season in verse. Just as we cherish our Christmas traditions now, so many of the great poets wrote beautifully about the Christmas story, magical wintry landscapes, festive traditions and making merry.

And then, of course, there are the much-loved songs and carols from around the world that we still sing today, many of which are included in this enchanting poetry collection.

Judith Flanders is the author of the bestselling The Victorian House: Domestic Life from Childbirth to Deathbed; A Circle of Sisters, which was nominated for the Guardian First Book Award; the New York Times bestselling The Invention of Murder, shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger for Non-fiction; The Victorian City: Everyday Life in Dickens’ London, shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times History Book of the Year; The Making of Home; and Christmas: A Biography. In her leisure time, she also writes the Sam Clair series of comic crime novels.