"I Sprang from My Bed..." To See Who Wrote the Poem

Inventing Santa Claus: The Mystery of Who Really Wrote The Most Celebrated Yuletide Poem of All Time, Carlo DeVito
On December 23, 1823, a poem called "A Visit from St. Nicholas" was published anonymously in the Troy Sentinel. It went on to become the most beloved Christmas poem of all time, and established much of the mythos of the Santa Claus character as we know it today: the sleigh, the eight reindeer and their names, his pipe, his jolly face. St. Nicholas himself was popularized in the New York area by Washington Irving. For years the poem was reprinted as being from "anonymous," until the family of Clement C. Moore, a theologian and scholar, claimed he wrote it. Moore, usually a serious man, did not take credit for the poem until 1844, when it was included in a book of his more serious verse.

But the family of Henry Livingston, Jr., related to Robert Livingston of Declaration of Independence fame, stated that the poem was his, and had been written earlier than the 1820s. They stated that its famous rhyming couplets were typically used by Livingston in his other poetry (he was noted for his light verse).

This slim volume discusses the history of both Moore and Livingston, the facts surrounding the printing and the reprinting of the poem, and the claims of both the families, taking them both into the present time. DeVito takes no sides in the quarrel, just presents as many facts as he can gather about both sides of the story.

There is a more detailed book on this subject (Who Wrote "The Night Before Christmas"? Analyzing the Clement Clarke Moore vs. Henry Livingston Question by MacDonald P. Jackson), but this appears to be more succinct and accessible.