Children of Japan

Children of Japan
Courtesy, R. John Wright

Hinges and Hearts

Hinges and Hearts
An Exhibit of our Metal Dolls

Tuxedo and Bangles

Tuxedo and Bangles

A History of Metal Dolls

A History of Metal Dolls
Now on Alibris.com and In Print! The First Book of its Kind

Alice, Commemorative Edition

Alice, Commemorative Edition
Courtesy, R. John Wright

Translate


Emma, aka, La Contessa Bathory

Emma, aka, La Contessa Bathory
Her Grace wishes us all a Merry Christmas!

Annabelle

Annabelle

Emma Emmeline

Emma Emmeline
Our New Addition/fond of stuffed toys

Cloth Clown

Cloth Clown

Native American Art

Native American Art

the triplets

the triplets

c. 1969 Greek Plastic Mini Baby

c. 1969 Greek Plastic Mini Baby
Bought Athens on the street

Iron Maiden; Middle Ages

Iron Maiden; Middle Ages

Sand Baby Swirls!

Sand Baby Swirls!
By Glenda Rolle, courtesy, the Artist

Glenda's Logo

Glenda's Logo
Also, a link to her site

Sand Baby Castaway

Sand Baby Castaway
By Glenda Rolle, Courtesy the Artist

A French Friend

A French Friend

Mickey

Mickey
From our friends at The Fennimore Museum

2000+ year old Roman Rag Doll

2000+ year old Roman Rag Doll
British Museum, Child's Tomb

Ancient Egypt Paddle Doll

Ancient Egypt Paddle Doll
Among first "Toys?"

ushabti

ushabti
Egyptian Tomb Doll 18th Dynasty

Ann Parker Doll of Anne Boleyn

Ann Parker Doll of Anne Boleyn

Popular Posts

Tin Head Brother and Sister, a Recent Purchase

Tin Head Brother and Sister, a Recent Purchase
Courtesy, Antique Daughter

Judge Peep

Judge Peep

Hakata Doll Artist at Work

Hakata Doll Artist at Work
From the Museum Collection

Japanese Costume Barbies

Japanese Costume Barbies
Samurai Ken

Etienne

Etienne
A Little Girl

Happy Heart Day

Happy Heart Day

From "Dolls"

From "Dolls"
A Favorite Doll Book

Popular Posts

Jenny Wren

Jenny Wren
Ultimate Doll Restorer

Our Friends at The Fennimore Doll and Toy Museum

Our Friends at The Fennimore Doll and Toy Museum

Baby Boo 1960s

Baby Boo 1960s
Reclaimed and Restored as a childhood Sabrina the Witch with Meow Meow

Dr. E's on Display with sign

Dr. E's on Display with sign

Dolls Restored ad New to the Museum

Dolls Restored ad New to the Museum
L to R: K*R /celluloid head, all bisque Artist Googly, 14 in. vinyl inuit sixties, early celluloid Skookum type.

Two More Rescued Dolls

Two More Rescued Dolls
Late Sixties Vinyl: L to R: Probably Horseman, all vinyl, jointed. New wig. R: Effanbee, probably Muffy, mid sixties. New wig and new clothing on both. About 12 inches high.

Restored Italian Baby Doll

Restored Italian Baby Doll
One of Dr. E's Rescued Residents

Dolls on Display

Dolls on Display
L to R: Nutcrackers, Danish Troll, HItty and her book, Patent Washable, Mechanical Minstrel, Creche figure, M. Alexander Swiss. Center is a German mechanical bear on the piano. Background is a bisque German costume doll.

A Few Friends

A Few Friends
These dolls are Old German and Nutcrackers from Dr. E's Museum. They are on loan to another local museum for the holidays.

Vintage Collage

Vintage Collage
Public Domain Art

The Merry Wanderer

The Merry Wanderer
Courtesy R. John Wright, The Hummel Collection

The Fennimore Doll Museum

The Fennimore Doll Museum

Robert

Robert
A Haunted Doll with a Story

Halloween Dolls Displayed in a Local Library

Halloween Dolls Displayed in a Local Library

The Cody Jumeau

The Cody Jumeau
Long-faced or Jumeau Triste

German Princesses

German Princesses
GAHC 2005

A Little PowerRanger

A Little PowerRanger
Halloween 2004

The Island of the Dolls

The Island of the Dolls
Shrine to Dolls in Mexico

Based on the Nutshell Series of Death

Based on the Nutshell Series of Death
Doll House murder

Popular Posts

Total Pageviews

A lovely dress

A lovely dress

Raggedy Ann

Raggedy Ann
A few friends in cloth!

Fennimore Doll and Toy Museum, WI

Fennimore Doll and Toy Museum, WI
Pixar Animator's Collection

Little PM sisters

Little PM sisters
Recent eBay finds

Dressed Mexican Fleas

Dressed Mexican Fleas

Really old Dolls!

Really old Dolls!

Friday, March 26, 2010

Publishing Update and Literary Doll III

Today is another crisp and deceptively cool day. Late at night, with my garage light flashing on and off with the motion detector, I worked on spring/Easter terrariums with Bunny Houses and small rabbit figures. I plan to spend the rest of the weekend working on my death penalty textbook. Talk about opposites! Then, there was Elmer F. and "Kill the Wabbit!"

Enough hilarity, especially bad hilarity. I was at the publisher yesterday and the appearance of the doll bibliography is becoming reality. I am getting anxious to see it. I am going to finish the paper doll houses for the book fair this weekend. On the subject of books and doll related items, Target has in its dollar section all types of Beatrix Potter themed items. There are small board books of "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" and "The Tale of Benjaimin" Bunny, and all kinds of stickers, small notebooks featuring Jemima Puddleduck, and graphics with Tom Kitten. They are all $1.00. There is a very nice sticker album with the stickers, too.

Barbie Basics has been restocked at Target as well. For those who love fashions, this is a series of nice dolls, all Barbie and friends, wearing the iconic "little black dress." There are also available accessory packs that are very nicely detailed, with gloves, purses, shoes, jewelry, etc. All are in perfect scale, of course, andI can see lots of projects taking place. For anyone interested in chronicling contemporary fashion, this is it.

Some more books that I would recommend include:

1. Books, cards, calendars by Tom Kelley. His son was also running a website. Kelley was the photographer who first took pictures of Marilyn Monroe. She was so young and new, that he legend claims he actually had to loan her some money. He migrated later in life to photgraphing antique dolls, especially gorgeous French bebes. For doll historians, fashionistas, and photography buffs, especially in portrait, you can't beat him.

2. Manfred Bachman, Dolls the Wide World Over. Bachman is another author who enjoys linking dolls with history, culture, art, and sociology. He talks about doll-shaped buildings and does photo studies of doll faces from every aspect of collecting, so that a modern vinyl baby's photo might appear between photos of Queen Anne woodens, Native American Kachinas, or Delicate French bisques. There are ritual dolls,tourist dolls, ethnic dolls, antiques, modern dolls, and creche figures galore, and the book is a fun read besides.

3. Helen Young, The Complete book of Doll Collecting. c. 1967. A fun surprise with this book is that when one takes off the wonderful dustcover with its antique dolls, the blue cloth bound book is decorated with a border of gold-gilt paper dolls dancing across the front cover. Young was also an artist and has done books for young collectors and books on dollmaking. Her dolls appeared for sale in Doll News, long published by Kimport dolls. She has an excellent section on N.I.A.D.A artists and tells stories and histories of dolls that I have used even in my Death Penatly Graduate Workshop. She gives tips on doll repair and collecting philosophy. She also has included in its entirety "The Ballad of Frozen Charlotte." I love how she thinks, and have followed her advice to have a good, varied collection. To complete it, Young thinks outside the box. For example, if wax dolls are too expensive or not easy to find, she recommends that one find some good figural candles, like those I grew up with that represented Christmas carolers or pilgrims. She suggested nice folk carvings or ornaments could fill in wear wooden dolls might be lacking. As always, she recommends collecting what we like, but cautions against "accumulations" of too many of the same type of doll. She mentions a collections of large bisque dolls that she viewed, that were no doubt expensive, but that all looked alike, were about the same height, had similar clothes, were from the same era, etc. For those of us who love variety, Young's philosophy is our mantra.

4. Dolls at 2000; comprehensive doll history by the U.F.D.C. This is a wonderful book that covers all types of dolls, and includes authors like Maria Argyriadis of the Benaki Museum that we never hear from otherwise. It is an excellent book for photo study and for tracking doll history. For Researchers, it is terrific.

That's the doll news for today. Hope you enjoy it. I'm interested to hear from readers. I will discuss a couple more books, and maybe begin to talk about favorite websites in blogs to come. I'm also interested in information on the following subjects:

1. Biographical information on Carl Fox and Max von Boehn.

2. The current whereabouts of the Metal Headed Huret doll, or the location of other dolls.

3. Information linking German or European dollmakers to the Holocaust.

Take care, and have a wonderful weekend.

No comments:

Post a Comment