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Paper Dolls

on July 6, 2010 – 8:18 am

Although paper dolls have been an affordable toy for children for almost two centuries, America did not enter the paper doll manufacturing arena until the mid-19th century. Prior to the widespread availability of chromolithography printing in the 1880s, paper dolls were colored by hand. Furthermore, early paper doll clothes did not come with the folding tabs to dress the dolls that we see today, but were attached with tiny drops of beeswax which were not greasy, therefore did not leave a mark when the clothing was removed. The first magazine to print a paper doll grouping with costumes was in 1859 by the American women’s publication, Godey’s Lady’s Book. In 1866, Frank Leslie’s Lady’s Magazine also published pages of dolls with hand-colored costumes, but this collection included the front and back of the dolls with their outfits. In 1900 McLoughlin Brothers published a series of “Dolls of All Nations.” Also available was “Princes and Princesses Paper Dolls” by Elizabeth Tucker, which was a beautiful series of historical paper dolls with designs as loose sheets in a box. Read full story about American Paper Dolls.

Victorian Christmas

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