Dolls' Houses

Description

The earliest known dolls' or baby house was made in Bavaria in the mid sixteenth century. Like most of those built in the following 250 years, it was designed not to be played with but to be a perfect reprsetnation in miniature of a princely house and to reflect the wealth of the owner. By the eighteenth century, in many ways a gold age of dolls' houses in Britain, they were adult playthings but children were allowed to join in. It was during the nineteenth century that they finally also became children's toys. This book outlines the history of these intriguing little buildings with illustrations of some fine examples, mnay of which can be seen today.

Halina Pasierbska was Curator of Dolls' Houses and Toys at the Victoria and Albert Museum. She is also the author of Dolls' House Furniture (Shire) and Dolls' Houses from the V&A Museum of Childhood (V&A Publishing).