Five Little Balerinas by Helen Page

A charming set by the beloved Helen Page, 1987.

Paper Doll Review paper dolls for sale

Jenny T. has really done a great job featuring new artists in her online shop. And I can't think of a better way to spend a few dollars on Cyber Monday than by ordering a few books from her site, for the sheer pleasure of the artwork and playtime in store, plus the satisfaction of supporting artists we love.

Jenny has a special offer when you order from Paper Doll Review online: Free shipping on orders over $20 placed by the end of the day Dec. 2. You'll also receive a bonus Dover Little Activity Book, "Little Victorian Girl," a perfect stocking stuffer.

Rudy Miller's lovely set of princesses.

 Charlotte Whatley's fantastical steampunk set comes with a delightful tale featuring the Curious Canine "Prof. Watts" and all kinds of smart wordplay as a mystery is unravelled.

Linda Hoerner's Paper Pals feature 8 charming girls, in colorful scrapbook layouts filled with all kinds of clothing, accessories and pets.

The Martha Washington Doll Book, 1945

I try to avoid the malls between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and prefer to explore small shops in Teaneck and other nearby towns. My loyalty was rewarded Friday when the owner of The Brier Rose used bookstore in Teaneck told me he was saving this book for me  (I've been in over the years looking for paper dolls). So fragile, lots of foxing, but plenty of charm.  Aline Bernstein is the author and illustrator.

More "Fifi" by Peggy Jo Rosamond

"Fifi Steps Out," by Peggy Jo Rosamond

Created by Peggy Jo Rosamond in 1990, this lovely set was distributed as souvenir at the 1992 convention in Kansas City. "Fifi" was die cut and placed in a beautiful presentation box. The convention theme that year was "Paper dolls -- and all that Jazz." Each costume represents a different year in the 1920s -- the Jazz Age. Festive and special, this beautiful dress and coat (1926) is perfect for the period between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. More to come.

Flossie's Thanksgiving Party

Do not adjust your screen. Nothing is wrong with your vision. I just couldn't figure out how to stitch this together.

I miss my old Microsoft paint application, which was easy as pie. With a Mac, everything feels way more complicated. It seems most free programs are for really serious photographers who want to create panoramas. I just want to stitch together old pictures. Sigh. Well, here you have two pieces of an old page from the Philadelphia Public Ledger. The artist is Margaret Carlson, and it dates from the mid 1920s, I would guess.

Here's how it came out when I used Hugin:

A perfect match, but quite askew. I need a few weeks at least to study the tutorial and figure out this program.

Here's a close up of Kitty at the table. Cute!

Enjoy your bird, everybody!

Little Miss Christmas and Holly-Belle, 1965

I love that Paper Doll Review is selling affordable reproductions of classic paper doll books! This charmer, illustrated by Elizabeth Anne Voss, would be very expensive if you could find an original in mint condition. And good luck handling a fragile original if you had ideas about copying it for play.

Thanks to Jenny T., you can buy a copy that you can actually cut and play with -- or use for a holiday scrapbook, or for a collage or to make gift tags -- and preserve that original in archival wrappers if you were lucky enough to find it.

You can order this book for $12 from Paper Doll Review. Jenny has a special offer when you order from her website: Free shipping on orders over $20 placed by the end of the day Dec. 2. You'll also receive a bonus Dover Little Activity Book, "Little Victorian Girl," a perfect stocking stuffer.

Dressed Animal of the Zoo, c. 1890s

From Mark Woodcock:

These two animal paper dolls are from a different series. These have "Yale Coffee" stamped on the back. They're 3.25"x6.5".

Animal Series of Paper Dolls, c. 1890s

Here's Mark Woodcock on these fabulous animal paper dolls:

Here are a few uncut advertising paper dolls. They're 4.5"x7". Four of them are stamped on the back "U.S. Standard Baking Powder" and one "Flag Coffee." They're not numbered so I don't know how many were in the series. I'd be curious to hear if anyone has others. For people who collect animal paper dolls, these are amazing.

Indeed, they are amazing. I'm guessing they're c.1890s, the heyday for this kind of advertising premium.

Ballerina Cut-Out Dolls by Merrill

This is a prototype of a Merrill Book that was never published. Mark Woodcock, the son of the late collector and writer Jean Woodcock, sent me an e-mail saying that, although he has been selling some of his mother's estate, he held on to several items for sentimental reasons. Many of these items have never been seen by most people. This prototype falls into that category. Thank you, Mark, for allowing me to share these pictures with my readers.

Veronica Lake by David Wolfe

One of the new books published by Paper Studio Press. Artist David Wolfe captures the saucy allure of Veronica Lake. Love that he included her hobo outfit from "Sullivan's Travels." Three dolls, eight pages of clothing and a short bio of the star by Richard Fellows.

You can order this book for $12 from Paper Doll Review. Jenny has a special offer when you order from her website: Free shipping on orders over $20 placed by the end of the day Dec. 2. You'll also receive a bonus Dover Little Activity Book, "Little Victorian Girl," a perfect stocking stuffer.

Jean Swings in the Navy

Art by Jean Polus Tobola

Veterans Day

I can't think of a better day to return to some of my 2012 Paper Doll Convention pictures. The convention was held at the Hope Hotel and Convention Center at the entrance to the Wright-Paterson Air Force Base, and had a salute to the military theme. Jean Polus Tobola gave a presentation on "My Life in the Service of the WAVES," and included some of her military paper doll books.

 Jean's military memorabilia.

 I won this Mopsy in her drawing! I'll scan in this week.

Thank you for your service, Jean!

Mopsy, 1947

Artist: Gladys Parker. June 1, 1947.

Nan's List Update

Please make sure when you correspond by mail with Nan Moorehead that you include her unit number--#204. It was inadvertently left off her third list. I received Nan's note when we had no electricity and we were staying elsewhere, hence the delay. Here's her complete address:

Nan C. Moorehead

523 Maple Street, #204

Edmonds, WA 98020

The Pleasures of Postcards

The New Yorker has an excellent article about Leonard Lauder's collection of postcards. You can read "The Pleasures of Postcards" here. Be sure to see the slide show, which includes the two posted here and a few more. Lauder (the son of Estee Lauder, of the cosmetics empire) had 125,000 postcards that he found in antique markets in Portobello Road in London, along the Seine in Paris, and New York City among other places. The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston has an exhibit, "The Postcard Age," with a selection from Lauder's collection on exhibit until April 14, 2013. The catalog (featuring the image above on its cover) looks beautiful.

The New York Times also has a slide show from the Lauder collection, which includes the above image, a Tuck postcard.

And a tip of the hat to Christine at The Daily Postcard blog, who posted her 1,001 and last post yesterday.  She's making time for other adventures, but the blog will remain up. It's well worth taking the time to browse, as Christine did a great deal of research on her postcards, and found some amazing  stories.

Flower Day by Diego Rivera

(1925)

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Covenant House and Hurricane Sandy

Covenant House is sheltering children displaced by Hurricane Sandy, and you can help them by a simple text donation.  From Director Kevin Ryan's Facebook page today:

"We are feeding breakfast to 1,100 kids in the storm region right now. Please - we really need help - please text KIDS to 80888 on your phone to donate $10 to help us feed and shelter all the homeless kids hurt by Hurricane Sandy."

I interviewed Kevin last month; you can read more about the work of Covenant House here. 

The angel clip is from a vintage college of scrap images published by Dover Publications.

Stormy Valentine

Hope everyone found shelter from the storm just passed. It will take weeks to get back to normal in my part of the Northeast. This vintage Valentine is c. 1920s.