The painting is of Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts

Angela was, in 1837, the wealthiest woman in England. You can read more about her at the above link, but you might like to know that in contrast to some heiresses today, she used her immense fortune toward charity, for the most part. She also, at an advanced age, "shocked polite society" by marrying her young secretary who was 40 years her junior. 

The painting, done in the 1840s, shows her as a young woman in a beautiful gown (click on the picture to see larger).  She kinda looks like Dolly Madison on the doughnut and cookies boxes (for those of you who remember the old advertisements).

I am reminded that one of the reasons I began this blog was to sort of catalog the collection of paper dolls of the 19th Century that I have acquired over the years. I've been so distracted working on other stuff, I've hardly talked about the wonderful books available out there at all!

Today I offer a glimpse of Norma Lu Meehan's Victorian Paper Doll Wardrobe. I think this one is out of print, but you can find it on eBay and the like. Meehan's work is amazing on a lot of levels: she works from actual gowns from actual historical collections, which makes the amount of detail incredible. This particular set of dresses is from the Northern Indiana Historical Society.

In the book there are three dolls and 12 dresses ranging from the 1860s to the 1890s (with an emphasis on the 90s ~ but a nice range of styles of that decade).

The one I've posted here is from 1887 and was worn to a wedding reception (click the picture to see more details).

That's the other great thing about Meehan's books: the notes are fabulous, often telling who owned the dress, where it was worn (and why), and providing other detail about the type of material, accessories, etc.

Meehan has a number of books, all equally detailed (and just recently published a new book of 19th century wedding fashions ~ which I hope to acquire soon). I have several of her other books and will share reviews on them also.