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''The Lonely Doll'' is the first
children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...
in a series by
photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...
and author
Dare Wright Dare Wright (December 3, 1914 – January 25, 2001) was a Canadian–American children's author, model, and photographer. She is best known for her 1957 children's book, ''The Lonely Doll''. Early life Wright was born in the Thornhill section ...
. The story is told through text and photographs. It was first published by Doubleday in 1957, went out of print for years, was reissued by
Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...
in 1998, and brought out by
Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller. It is a Fortune 1000 company and the bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. As of July 7, 2020, the company operates 614 retail stores across all 50 U. ...
in a narrated version for their Nook eReader in 2012. Wright wrote 10 books starring Edith and the bears. The nine that have been reprinted are ''The Lonely Doll'', ''Edith and Mr. Bear'', ''A Gift from the Lonely Doll'', ''Holiday for Edith and the Bears'', ''The Doll and the Kitten'', ''Edith and the Duckling'', ''Edith and Little Bear Lend a Hand'', ''Edith and Midnight'' and ''The Lonely Doll Learns a Lesson''.


Plot

''The Lonely Doll'' tells the story of a doll named Edith, who lives by herself until two teddy bears, called Mr. Bear and Little Bear, appear in her life. One day, Mr. Bear goes out for a walk leaving the two alone in the house; He returns to find they have rummaged in a closet for dress-up clothing, smeared themselves with makeup, and written "Mr. Bear is just a silly old thing" in lipstick on the mirror. Mr. Bear proceeds to discipline both Little Bear and Edith, leaving Edith to worry that he will take Little Bear and leave. Mr. Bear assures her that he will never, ever, leave her.


Characters

Edith, the main character of many of her books, looks a great deal like Dare Wright herself, with a blonde pony tail and golden hoop earrings. Edith was named after Dare's mother, Edith Stevenson Wright, a portrait artist.


Controversy

When Houghton Mifflin reissued ''The Lonely Doll'' in 1998, it was not without a minor battle from colleagues, according to then children's book publisher
Anita Silvey Anita Silvey is an author, editor, and literary critic in the genre of children’s literature. Born in 1947 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Silvey has served as Editor-in-Chief of ''The Horn Book Magazine'' and as vice-president at Houghton Mifflin ...
. At the core of the controversy was the scene in which Mr. Bear spanks Edith for misbehaving. As a result, some parents objected to the book. Other parents, such as critic and novelist
Daphne Merkin Daphne Miriam Merkin (born in New York City) is an American literary critic, essayist and novelist. Merkin is a graduate of Barnard College and also attended Columbia University's graduate program in English literature. She began her career as ...
and fashion designer
Vera Wang Vera Ellen Wang (; born June 27, 1949) is an American fashion designer. Early life Vera Ellen Wang was born June 27, 1949 in New York City to Chinese parents who emigrated to the United States in the mid-1940s. Her mother, Florence Wu (Wu ...
, supported the book.


Toys

The doll is a felt
Lenci Doll Lenci dolls are wool felt dolls that feature heat-pressed wool faces with painted features. They typically have intricately made wool and organdy clothing, adorned with elaborate felt flowers, hats, and/or accoutrements. They are at the top end of ...
from the 1920s which belonged to Dare as a child. She sewed Edith's outfits for the books and changed her eye color to blue, resembling the author's looks. Mr. Bear was manufactured by
Schuco Schuco is a German manufacturing company founded in 1912 by Heinrich Müller and the businessman Heinrich Schreyer in Nuremberg Germany's toy capital since early days. The company's specialty was making toy reproductions of cars and trucks in tin ...
, and Little Bear was a special edition Steiff, "Jackie Bear." Both were purchased in the 1950s with the help of Dare's brother, Blaine Wright. The Rothschild Doll Company, founded by Mimi Rothschild and Howard Mandel, obtained a license directly from Dare Wright in 1985 to reproduce both a hard plastic and felt version of Edith The Lonely Doll. The Rothschild Doll Company manufactured a 22" felt Edith doll as originally produced by the Lenci company. She had human hair, painted face, a cotton pink checked dress and black suede shoes. Rothschild made an exclusive basket set containing the 22" felt doll, a Mohair joined teddy bear known as Mr. Bear and a 12" Mohair jointed Little Bear. A new felt finished rendition of the Edith doll was manufactured in 2005 by the Alexander Doll Company, who made the first Edith doll in 1958. It was sold exclusively by The Toy Shoppe. In 2007, R. John Wright produced a limited edition felt Edith doll for collectors to celebrate the 50th anniversary of ''The Lonely Doll''.


Reception

The book was first published in 1957, and made the ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' children's books best seller list. In November 2010, The British newspaper
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
named ''The Lonely Doll'' one of the 10 Best Illustrated Children's Books of all time.


References


External links


Dare Wright's official website

Lenci Doll Collector's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lonely Doll, The 1957 children's books American picture books Books of photographs Doubleday (publisher) books Sentient toys in fiction