19th Century Paper Dolls

Another gem from Morphy's Auctions. This is "The School of Fashion" circa 1830s-1840s (that's what the website says ~ it looks 30s to me). The description reads: "The Lovely French 'L'Ecole Des Modes' boxed set contains a reinforced front/back 5.7-inch [doll?]. She has six flawless gowns, seven headdresses/hats, and a wooden stand. The accompanying box is embossed with gold trim and a beautiful centerpiece featuring elaborately gowned ladies of the period.

The estimated selling price for this lovely set? $1,200-$1,500!

This was the largest image I could get of the set, so click on it if you want to see it a little closer, but it's too bad we can't see more of the details on the dresses, etc.

I have been truly dreadful about updating here, I know. So many other things on my plate, including a grim sinus infection that made me lose a couple of weeks in crabby mungness. But I'm always full of excuses, I know, so I'll just offer this colorful plate from a fashion magazine the name of which, unfortunately, I do not know. Dapper chaps, aren't they? This is circa 1830 and these fellas are clearly young gadabouts who have nothing better to do than flaunt the latest styles as they promenade about. I like the "sporting" outfit in the back as well. When they're not trying to impress the ladies, they can take their spaniels into the bush and flush grouse or somesuch. Also love the stovepipe hats with the rounded brims. Very particular to the era since by the 40s, the wider tops and curvier sides were much more popular by and large.

As for my own work, suffice it to say, it keeps getting back burner-ed while I wrangle with a multitude of other projects. But I do have a deadline for the 15th of May, which means I need to get back working on this stuff soon.

I also changed the body shape on one doll (the adjustments never end, do they?). I will post stuff by Sunday night (trying to make a commitment here!).

Before I sign off for vacation, I thought I should offer at least one Santa Claus paper doll ('tis the season and all). I intend to make my own one day ~ I have some pretty specific ideas about what I want him to look like, and he does appear in my series at least once that I am aware of, so he's officially a "character" of this universe. But in the meantime, here's Tom Tierney's Santa Claus, who deserves the honor since he has the coolest 19th century costumes of all the Santa Claus paper dolls that I have seen. Click on the image to see the costumes in more detail.

The marketing idea of a "Santa Claus" was really born in the 19th century, thanks to Clement Clarke Moore's poem "A Visit from Saint Nicholas" (more commonly called by its opening line minus a "t'was: "The Night Before Christmas". The idea was popularized by Thomas Nast in the illustrated papers (the patriotic depiction on the left is drawn from a wartime newspaper in 1863 ~ notice the army camp in the background there).

Tierney's paper doll includes an interesting evolution of Santa Claus through the 19th century from his Dutch beginnings in a 1821 image all the way to the turn of the century in his first motorcar. The second costume here is undated, but by the look of the doll it's likely based on an image from somewhere in the 1830s or 40s.

I hope everyone has a happy holiday and I look forward to posting lots of fun stuff in the new year!

Since I returned from Costa Rica (hence my lack of updates since August), I have had many distractions. While the beach is conducive to relaxing and having fun, it's not so great for drawing, so I didn't get much done. Upon returning I had a number of other projects and family business to see to, and that has taken me away for the whole month of September! Now that I am back however, and more or less recovered from the travel (which always makes me lazy and stupid for a good while after), I am trying to get back to work. So I am forcing myself to update this blog.

Today's doll is by Peggy Jo Rosamund. Her dolls have always creeped me out because they are done in the style of old bisque and cloth dolls rather than "real people". They are rendered beautifully and the clothes are always exquisite, but those doll heads and joints just creep me out. Anyway, that didn't keep me from recently acquiring this small set representing Robert E. Lee and his wife done up as dolls circa 1860. The set includes uniforms from Lee's time in the Corp of Topographical Engineers (1839), with a lovely circa 1831 gown for Mary Custis; from Lee's time as Superintendent at West Point (1850s), which is the image shown; and during the Civil War.

It's a nice doll that I don't intend to cut. I also understand that Rosamund died earlier this year or last year (recently), so that makes it a nice keepsake.

Tom Tierney's presidents series is probably my favorite of all of his works for one major reason: with the various presidents as the focus of the books, Tierney is forced to come up with actual fashions for them! In too many of his other books, the male dolls seem to be secondary to the women and many of them have no dressing clothes (with the exception of, perhaps a hat). I love the presidents series because no matter what, they have to have outfits right alongside their wives, children, etc.

All that said, I don't have too many of the president books by Tierney. I have George Washington, Thomas Jefferson (one of the nicest he's made, I think), Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses Grant, and Andrew Jackson. Eventually I will want to get Teddy Roosevelt and maybe James Madison, but for now these are pretty much the ones I am interested in. The 20th century presidents, not so much. I don't know if there will be any more president books (seems somewhat doubtful), but I would have liked to have seen a couple more 19th century ones. James Garfield (morbid as that might be) would have been nice.

Andrew Jackson and his family was one of my most recent acquisitions. He's a wee bit on the far side of the period I tend to seek out, but I do like men's fashions from the 30s (the women, not so much). I chose this outfit to share in particular because it's sort of casual and has nice color; less stuffy than we might generally see people portrayed in this era.  The set includes a few other interesting dolls, though it notably omits his adopted Cherokee son, Lincoya. Boo. Odd, that.

I have strong feelings about Jackson as a president (his policies might as well be classified as genocide), but he still makes a nice paper doll (and I love the underwear ~ that night shirt is hilarious).  This set is still available from Dover.

The 19th century was dominated by the reign of Queen Victoria (and so is considered for the most part, the "Victorian" Era). Much as I like the term, it brings to mind a particular style for most people: the fashions of the "High Victorian" era, namely large bustles, high collars, and lots of neck jewelry ~ popularized by the beautiful Princess of Wales Alexandra (later Queen Consort to Edward VII), actually. When you think about the range of fashion throughout the century (Victoria was crowned in 1837 and died in 1901), calling everything "Victorian" can sometimes feel a little pointless, so I have opted to stay away from the term for the most part in favor of the American époques which break down into smaller, more defined sets of years/styles.

Nevertheless, I thought it was important to put Victoria up front and center since she still lends her name to most people's impressions of the 19th century, and because there are certainly a fair share of Victoria paper dolls out there (and I imagine there would be more if she weren't so sour and dowdy-looking most of the time).  This particular one (click to see a slightly large image) is from Tom Tierney's Great Empresses and Queens. Tierney is probably the most prolific paper doll artist producing today. I have a lot to say about that, but rather than overwhelm, we'll just take it one day at a time.

I am still organizing content to fill here, but hello in the meantime!  I am using this first post to set up the tagging feature. It's my goal to add new content at least twice a week, so even though this probably won't be a "daily", I hope you will subscribe to the RSS Feed and check back regularly!

One of the things I hope to focus on here is paper doll men, which I think are highly underrated and underrepresented in the paper doll world. So while you can expect to see an array of beautiful dresses, expect to see even more frock coats, military uniforms, and other contemporary occupational wear.