[alert variation=”alert-info”]Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Formats: Hardcover
Purchase: Powell’s | Amazon | Barnes & Noble[/alert]

Inside this enchanting edition of The Paper Doll’s House of Miss Sarah Elizabeth Birdsall Otis, Aged Twelve, are the lovely reproductions of a young girl who created a paper doll house. Miss Birdie lived in the late 1800’s and so her paper doll book reflects that era. She constructed her dollhouse inside a book. It was a very clever way for a young girl of an influential background to carry her inventive pastime with her wherever she ventured. A young girl of means, like Miss Birdie, often spent weeks at one time at their summer home each year and a week or two with other family members. She spent many hours collecting the variety of cutout additions she would use to cover the beautiful pages of rooms she was creating. She collected small pieces of leftover wallpaper to use on the ceilings or walls or even the floors. In addition, she collected objects to include in her rooms from the magazines and catalogues of that period. The rooms Miss Birdie created reflected her own life of wealth and influence that she experienced.

“Birdie went out of her way to find the ingredients for her collages. Snippets of real wallpaper lend the rooms where they are pasted an almost dizzying sense of scale, especially as the engravings of furniture and light-fixtures from contemporary advertisements and catalogues are often smaller than the overall scheme decreed.”

This book is filled with pages of colorful artwork and showcases the creative mind of the young Miss Birdie. Also showcased in this book are the black and white photos of the real life Miss Birdie. A lovely addition to the book itself is the replica collection of press-out paper dolls that Miss Birdie created, along with the period clothes the dolls wore at that time. This book is truly a lovely example of art, color and imagination. This was a delightful book from cover to cover! A great book for the young reader and/or the adult who may remember playing with paper dolls of her very own!

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