Early 19t c Continued

You may enjoy Mis Munecas, a lovely blog with theme music. She as gorgeous photos,and covers the history well. She makes a point that by Victoria's time, there were few toys left from the poor childrens' toy box, and perhaps because commercial dolls, parts, and other materials to make them were becoming more plentiful, and because the Middle Class was forming and rising across the globe, especially in Western Countries. Also, those still wretchedly poor worked constantly, and they had no time for dolls. Even in the early 20th century, my grandmother in Europe had to work. She had to dolls as a child, only later as an adult, and these became the nucleus of my collection. My grandmothers worked, and went to school to be seamstresses so they could work even more. One of them lost her father as a little girl of six or seven; she had to wear black till she married twenty years later, and then had a Paris trousseau to make up for it. She used to beg us not to wear black, even if someone died. With the rise of the Middle Class, and more leisure time for children, there was more time for play, and for toys of all types.