The Raggedy Ann Stories by Johnny Gruelle
Johnny (John Barton) Gruelle (1880-1938) was an artist, political cartoonist, and writer of children's books. He is best known as the creator of Raggedy Ann. He also provided colour illustrations for a 1914 edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales. His first well known cartooning work was Mr. Twee Deedle which Gruelle created after he beat out 1,500 other entrants in a cartooning contest sponsored in 1911 by The New York Herald. Mr. Twee Deedle was in print from 1911 to 1914. In 1918, the PF Volland Company published Raggedy Ann Stories. Gruelle then created a following series of popular Raggedy Ann books and dolls. Gruelle lived in the Silvermine section of Norwalk, Connecticut, where the dolls were first mass produced, and later moved his home and company to neighbouring Wilton, Connecticut. He spent a year in Ashland, Oregon from 1923-1924.
Gruelle, Johnny: - Johnny Gruelle (December 24, 1880 - January 9, 1938) was an American artist, political cartoonist, children's book author and illustrator, and even songwriter. He is known as the creator of Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy. According to oft-repeated myth, Gruelle's daughter Marcella brought from her grandmother's attic a faceless doll on which the artist drew a face, and that Gruelle suggested that Marcella's grandmother sew a shoe button for a missing eye. He then combined the names of two James Whitcomb Riley poems, The Raggedy Man and Little Orphant Annie and suggested calling the doll Raggedy Ann. In reality, as Gruelle's wife Myrtle recalls, it was Gruelle who retrieved a long-forgotten, homemade rag doll from the attic of his parents' Indianapolis home sometime around the turn of the 20th century. As Myrtle explained, There was something he wanted from the attic. While he was rummaging around for it, he found an old rag doll his mother had made for his sister. He said then that the doll would make a good story. The couple's daughter, Marcella, had not yet been born when Gruelle found the doll, Myrtle Gruelle continued. Johnny Gruelle kept [the doll] in his mind until we had Marcella. He remembered it when he saw her play [with] dolls. ... He wrote the stories around some of the things she did. He used to get ideas from watching her. Additionally, Marcella died at age 13, and Gruelle did not then create the limp Raggedy Ann doll as a tribute to his lifeless daughter, as another myth states. Regardless, some journalistic sources repeat the myth.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780517100370 |
| ISBN 10 | 0517100371 |
| Title | The Raggedy Ann Stories |
| Author | Johnny Gruelle |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Derrydale Books,US |
| Year published | 1994-02-19 |
| Number of pages | 64 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |