Publisher's Synopsis
Raggedy Ann Stories - Written by Johnny Gruelle. Raggedy Ann is a character created by American writer Johnny Gruelle (1880-1938) in a series of books he wrote and illustrated for young children. Raggedy Ann is a rag doll with red yarn for hair and has a triangle nose. Johnny Gruelle received US Patent D47789 for his Raggedy Ann doll on September 7, 1915. The character was created in 1915 as a doll, and was introduced to the public in the 1918 book Raggedy Ann Stories. When a doll was marketed with the book, the concept had great success. A sequel, Raggedy Andy Stories (1920), introduced the character of her brother, Raggedy Andy, dressed in sailor suit and hat. Gruelle created Raggedy Ann for his daughter, Marcella, when she brought him an old hand-made rag doll and he drew a face on it. From his bookshelf, he pulled a book of poems by James Whitcomb Riley, and combined the names of two poems, "The Raggedy Man" and "Little Orphant Annie." He said, "Why don't we call her Raggedy Ann?" Raggedy Ann dolls were originally handmade. Over 75,000 dolls were made for Volland, a Gruelle book publisher, by the Non-Breakable Toy Co. of Muskegon, Michigan between 1918 and 1926. Later, PF Volland made the dolls. In 1935 Volland ceased operation and Ann and Andy were made under Gruelle's permission by Exposition Dolls, and without permission (during legal limbo) by MollyE's Dolls, resulting in Gruelle v (Mollye) Goldman. Courtesy of Wikipedia
