Raggedy Ann and More: Johnny Gruelle's Dolls and Merchandise
"Patricia Hall is . . . the nation's leading expert on Johnny Gruelle and Raggedy Ann. This book should be a valuable tool for collectors, curators, and historians, and great fun for general readers." G. Rollie Adams, president and CEO, Strong Museum "This book has the 'Hall'mark of great research, fine writing, and insight inspired by passion." --Joan Wilen and Lydia Wilen, authors and television personalities Patricia Hall's new book demonstrates her long-standing expertise on the merchandise of Johnny Gruelle and her extensive knowledge of the man himself. It is the most comprehensive guidebook to the dolls, books, and products that all originated in the mind that first created Raggedy Ann and Andy, the famed round-eyed rag dolls. It is a detailed roadmap to the fanciful and idealistic terrain of a vision that was elaborate, generous, and wildly creative. The dolls, stories, and playthings captured in this book are all marked with the inimitable Gruelle charisma: a simple folk appeal that hints at the nostalgic comfort of the past while acknowledging an acute sense of the present.  Utilizing historical and company documents, Raggedy Ann and More chronicles Gruelle's famous rag dolls from their beginnings as minor characters in newspaper illustrations, to homemade rag dolls sewn and sold out of the artist's home, to their serendipitous propulsion into the commercial toy and children's book markets. Emerging from these pages are a chorus of other characters, explored more thoroughly here than anywhere else. Beloved Belindy, Twee Deedle, Quacky Doodles, and Buddy and Sis are finally accounted for and showered with the attention they deserve. Because Gruelle's ever-evolving merchandise reflected changes in American society, there is in Raggedy Ann and More a profound sense of history--of emerging from industrialization, wars and the Depression. Gruelle's characters capture the essence of the American dream. Patricia Hall has been collecting and researching playthings and illustrated children's books since the 1960s. Her Johnny Gruelle collection is one of the most comprehensive in the world, encompassing books, dolls, merchandise, original artwork, correspondence, photographs, and business records. Holding an M.A. in folklore and mythology from UCLA, Patricia has lectured throughout the U.S. on Gruelle and his Raggedys and has written extensively for national and regional publications on Gruelle's contributions to American culture.