From the 18th century onwards, fashion dolls were being sent from France to England at least once each year. Dressed in the latest modes, the dolls were first sent to the English Court, and afterwards to one of London's leading dressmakers. These dolls were life-sized, fully dressed and handsomely coiffured and were quite expensive to produce, hence there only being one available each year. Their life-sized clothing could be worn by flesh and blood ladies and the dolls were also models for new hairstyles, accessories, shoes and hats. So important were these dolls, that during any conflict between the two countries, the ministers of both Courts granted a special pass to the mannequin, which was always honored.
The drawback to these dolls was that only one costume could be displayed at a time and only a limited number of modistes and their customers had access to them.
However, this problem was solved in 1790, when the English fashion doll was introduced. These were flat figures cut from cardboard and sold for only three shillings, the price making them so accessible that there were soon thousands of these eight-inch tall figures being produced. Their hair was simply dressed and they came complete with underclothing and corsets. Each doll was accompanied by six full sets of cut-out dresses and coiffures, representing the changing styles for each season. The entire set could be slipped into its own envelope, making it convenient for dressmakers to carry to their clients' homes.
Before long, hundreds of different sheets of fashions were being produced, each aimed at a different class of society and these, inevitably, were passed along as playthings to children once their mothers had finished with them.
By the early 1800s, the dolls were being made specifically as toys for children, making the fashion doll the forerunner of today's paper doll. In London, the firm of S. & J. Fuller was producing the commercially-made dolls by 1810. These came complete with their own cardboard carrying cases and an accompanying book which related the stories of such paper characters as Little Fanny and Little Henry, the stories being a blend of moral lessons an adventure.
The dolls and their cut-out clothing were either lithographed or hand-tinted and were by mid-century featuring subjects as varied as characters from the P.T. Barnum Circus in the U.S. and British Monarchs in England.
During the late Victorian era, paper dolls were given away as premiums by manufacturers of various household products and were also included in the Sunday newspapers and ladies' magazines.
Movie stars were a favorite paper doll theme in the 1920s and patriotic World War II WAC's and Wave's in the 1940's, while some of us might recall ourselves playing with Mouseketeer or Barbie paper dolls during our childhoods.
All of these dolls, and many more, are today collector's items, bringing hundreds, even thousands, of dollars at sales and auctions nationwide. In this modern age of video and computer games, paper dolls are still being produced and Romantic Times' offers a wonderful variety.
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by Tom Tierney
