raggedy ann stories by johnny gruelle 1918

It gives me such joy to decorate a tree with items I have collected for years. Two years ago we decided these ornaments had reached critical mass, meaning we had enough of them to have a completely Raggedy Ann and Andy Christmas tree. I hope so, anyway.įor the past twenty-plus years, my younger sister has given me a Raggedy Ann ornament for the Christmas tree each year. She may still be stuck in a box somewhere. Unfortunately, I have no idea what happened to that doll. When I was young, my mother, who I never thought of as much of a seamstress, made me one of these dolls. Most Raggedy Ann dolls of yesteryear were homemade with McCalls offering a simple to follow pattern. I guess that means my book was published in the 1960s some time. My version of that book has a copyright date of 1918 with 'Forty-sixth edition' in tiny red letters following. I'm sure she knew I would feel a connection to a doll namesake (even though she doesn't spell her name with an E like I do.)Īpparently the creator of Raggedy Ann, Johnny Gruelle, applied for a patent for his rag doll in 1915 and his first book about the doll, Raggedy Ann Stories was published in 1918.

Actually my mom started the collection for me since my name is Anne. The reason I was surprised is I consider myself to be a bit of a Raggedy Ann know-it-all since I have collected the dolls since I was a little girl.

As she was purchasing gift tags I look a spin around the shop and was surprised to see a lone Raggedy Andy on the shelf with a tag which read RAGGEDY ANN is 100 this year, 1915-2015. Yesterday I went shopping with my daughter and we ended up in the Hallmark shop in the mall.

Raggedy ann stories by johnny gruelle 1918