Raggedy Ann in the Deep Deep Woods (1930) Marcella takes her dolls on a trip to the seashore. The Paper Dragon: A Raggedy Ann Adventure (1926) Books in the Series: Original Books Written and Illustrated by Gruelle A large number of these books were published after his death, and some books published after his death were attributed to him even though he didn’t write them. Later, there were books that he wrote and someone else illustrated. He both wrote and illustrated the first books. For the moment, I’m just going to concentrate on the original Gruelle books. This series and the characters of Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy have continued long past the death of the original author in 1938, with new authors writing new stories and books. Their adventures often take them to magical lands, like Fairyland and Cookie Land, and they often meet magical characters, like fairies and witches. The dolls usually come to life at night, when Marcella is asleep. Raggedy Andy was not based on an existing male doll. In the very first book, Raggedy Ann needs to have her stuffing replaced, and she also receives a special candy heart that says, “I love you.”Īt first, the stories were just about Raggedy Ann, but then, Gruelle added a brother for her. The real Marcella died young at age 13 in 1915, but the fictional Marcella, based on her, is a regular character in the stories.

Soon after the first books were published, Gruelle arranged to have his publisher sell commercially-made versions of the dolls. The original author of the stories, Johnny Gruelle, based Raggedy Ann on a doll that belonged to his daughter, Marcella (or possibly a much older rag doll that had been passed down through the family, the story varies). Raggedy Ann and her brother, Raggedy Andy, are rag dolls.

Marcella a raggedy ann story 1929