Dolls and Toys in Book Form

September 12, 2023

Special Collections & Archives holds numerous interactive books for children including a range of paper dolls, a dollhouse, and more. Here we highlight three selections ranging from an 1810 publication that is lesson-based to a play-based interactive dollhouse published in 1949.

Published in 1810, The History of Little Fanny, Exemplified in a Series of Figures is thought to be the first published paper doll set for children. The text of the book is written in verse and each section begins with what Fanny is meant to be wearing. Children followed along and dressed Fanny as they read, learning a lesson along the way as they followed Fanny through her trials and tribulations. After we find Fanny no longer in beautiful fresh clothes with her mother in a park, but instead dressed as a beggar, verse 3 states, “Turn not away, attend to pity’s call; but learn from this the evils that befall those who their mothers dare to disobey..,”

Paper Dolls and How to Make Them: A Book for Little Girls was published in the United States in 1856. It’s introduction makes clear that paper dolls were still a rather new phenomenon in the U.S. It references “Fanny Gray” another early set of paper dolls released in the U.S. and the author states, “I supposed that all little girls, now-a-days, played with them, until a few days ago when a lady told me that she knew a number who had never heard of Paper Dolls…” The author goes on to describe her experience with paper dolls and then delves into how to construct your very own dolls. She recommends, “for the dresses, I dare say that your father will give you the colored covers of old pamphlets,” and then cautions, “If, after your first doll is finished, you should say “What a horrid-looking thing!”...do not destroy it, but make a dress for it and give it to your little sister, and she, I am sure, will be delighted, and call it “pooty baby.” Our copy of the book also has a very sweet inscription in the front from a sister who was giving the book as a gift and cautions her sibling not to cut these dolls out but just to use them as an example of how to make their own.

The Fold-Away Doll House and Play Book of Cut-Out Furniture unfolds and props up into a three-room house complete with windows and doors that open. It also comes along with a Play Book of Cut-Out Furniture to populate the house with. The furniture in this version is kept in place for preservation reasons, but you can view a complete set with the furniture built here. The play book begins with a story about the dolls on move-in day and how children might make up stories to go along with the toy book.

Come check out these gems in the Special Collections reading room. Perhaps you’ll be inspired to make your own paper dolls or doll house book crafted specifically to your life experiences!

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Post tagged as: special collections, rare books, international, united states