Linda's Book Reviews - Cloth Dolls From Ancient To Modern by Linda Edward

If you are a reader of my Linda's Blog then you know that I just love dolls and books about dolls, especially cloth dolls.

One of the books that I bought several years ago was Cloth Dolls: From Ancient to Modern : A Collector's Guide (A Schiffer Book for Collectors). It is a collectors guide of cloth dolls and their values and I was especially interested in it because it contained cloth dolls, which up to this point in time were often overlooked by the doll collecting society as a whole.

I never understood this as I always thought that the category of dolls would include dolls with cloth heads as well as dolls with wood, china, bisque, clay, or cernit heads. Fortunately cloth dolls are gaining in popularity amongst collectors and especially amongst the ever growing segment of people who love "primitives." Unfortunately, cloth doesn't always survive well over time so there are not a lot of examples of really ancient dolls made solely of cloth around.

Cloth Dolls: From Ancient to Modern : A Collector's Guide (A Schiffer Book for Collectors) starts with a small chapter about cloth dolls of long ago. Unfortunately, not a lot survived.

The History Of Faceless Dolls - Updated February 2015 - Part VIII - American Primitive, Prairie, Pioneer, Wagon Train, Appalachian and Folk Art Rag Dolls

In the book "Cloth Dolls From Ancient To Modern" by Linda Edward in Chapter 1 - Page 7 there is a wonderful illustration of a "faceless" 3rd century Roman rag doll made of linen, courtesy of Eric Edward, NVA.

In Chapter 3 - Page 20 of the "Cloth Dolls From Ancient To Modern" by Linda Edward there is a wonderful picture of a "faceless" Amish Doll from the late 20Th century and the Pennsylvania Dutch area.

If you'd like to read my "The Book Review Corner" blog review of "Cloth Dolls From Ancient To Modern please CLICK HERE.

According to Wikipedia.com, "A rag doll is a children's toy. It is a cloth figure, a doll traditionally home-made from (and stuffed with) spare scraps of material. They are one of the most ancient children's toys in existence; the British Museum has a Roman rag doll, found in a child's grave dating from the 1st-5th century AD.  " Amish dolls are a type of traditional American rag dolls which originated as children's toys among the Old Order Amish people. The best-known type have no facial features. Today, many rag dolls are commercially produced to simulate the features of the original home-made dolls, such as simple features, soft cloth bodies, and patchwork clothing."

The doll in the picture to the right is the Roman Rag Doll at The British Museum mentioned in the Wikipedia.com article. According to the museum it is a linen rag doll, filled with rags and papyrus, from the Roman, 1st-5th century AD, that was made in Egypt. If you would like to read more about this doll please click here.

As far as American rag dolls are concerned it doesn't matter if you call them primitive rag dolls, Appalachian dolls, prairie dolls, prayer dolls, wagon train dolls, or folk art dolls they're all basically cloth rag dolls and Americans have been making them since colonial times 1630 - 1762.

There are many different styles of primitive rag dolls.  Some are faceless, some have button eyes, some have hand embroidered or painted on simple faces, some have stitched fingers and toes, some have round heads while others have flat heads. Most are made from rags or scraps of cotton, calico or unbleached or stained muslin fabric and stuffed with fabric scraps, straw, or sawdust.