Childrens Gift Ideas Blog Toys and gifts to inspire the Imagination

The near-forgotten charm of paper dolls

A once-popular but now oft-forgotten category of traditional toys is the paper doll, a cheap and simple form of amusement for children for children and adults for hundreds of years.

Strictly speaking, the term includes only dolls that have accompanying clothing or costumes. But paper figures have existed for thousands of years. Asian peoples have used paper figures in ritual ceremonies for over 2000 years, and other civilisations have made popular art forms from paper for centuries.

The earliest use of paper dolls in Europe was in the fashion industries of France, Austria, Germany and Britain in the mid-18^th century. These dolls were hand painted and made to entertain adults. They were often used to display the fashions of the day, or to represent popular figures of the time.

These kinds of dolls were first manufactured in Britain and North America in the early 19^th century and many were exported from Europe to America in the late 19^th century.

Cut-out paper dolls began to appear in magazines in the mid-19^th century and in newspapers from about 1890. The dolls would be printed on one page, with clothing and costumes (which could be coloured in by hand) on the next page.

These simple dolls became very popular in the early 20^th century. They provided cheap amusement for children and were especially popular during the Great Depression, when money was scarce.

Paper dolls included recurring characters. Some were short-lived, but others are still around today. They include Barbie and Ken, Blondie (the comic strip, not the pop group), Dennis the Menace, Judy Garland and many other film stars, celebrities and cartoon characters from the age of silent movies onwards.

Fashion paper dolls appeared in the 1940s, with designs by Louis Vuitton shoes, Timberland boots and a host of gifted artists.

Paper dolls are still popular and are an endearing childhood treasure, both as toys for children and as a curiosity for collectors.

• Share
• Tweet
• "&title=""">