1949 "First Edition" stated on copyright page; Doubleday & Company publishers, New York; hardbound; two complete fold-out Christmas manger cut out scenes attached to the front and back endpapers; original owners name on top edge of title page (pic) in pencil; pages very good condition; boards very good with minor ageing and just a little soiling (pic); no dust jacket.
 
from introduction -
Paper dolls have been enjoyed as playthings for more than three hundred years.  Of course they are much older than that, because we can read about how they were used, before 1200, by witch doctors in Africa for healing the sick, and in China and Japan, by their priests, in funeral rites and other religious ceremonies...I never tired of hearing my mother tell about the paper dolls she had, the ones she made, and the way she and her friends played with them.  Making her paper-doll ballet is something which would be fun today...