Paper Dolls

Paper dolls were probably inspired by the pantins, or jumping jacks, made in eighteenth-century Europe. The first American paper dolls were published by Crosby, Nichols and Company of Boston, Massachusetts, in 1854. By the 1880s, sheets of printed paper dolls and clothes were being made. The first paper doll books were made in the 1920s. Collectors prefer uncut sheets or books or boxed sets of paper dolls. Prices are about half as much if the pages have been cut. For more information, explore our identification guides for paper dolls and other dolls.