I honestly knew nothing about Zelda Fitzgerald going into this read – I just remember playing with paper dolls growing up and how much I’d loved them. And since I’d forgotten about paper dolls for the last fifteen years, I couldn’t say no to this book.

This work was set up well. It began with a history section about Zelda, her marriage to F. Scott Fitzgerald, and her daughter, Scottie. It went into some details about her mental health and her different passions and pursuits, as well as how these influenced her illustrations of the paper dolls. Pictures of Zelda and her family were also incorporated throughout the work in a way that added to her short biography.

She had several different collections of dolls that she made, ranging from Louis IVX’s court to The Three Musketeers to the characters of the Goldilocks and the Three Bears fairytale. At the beginning of each collection was a paragraph recapping the tale that the figures were based on. To be honest, the style was a little ugly, but in an endearing way. I loved how muscular many of the women were and that several of them also had large feet, and the costuming for most of them was excellently done.

Overall, I highly recommend this read to those interested in paper dolls or seeing the personal paper doll collection of Zelda Fitzgerald. My thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for allowing me to read and review this work.

The Paper Dolls of Zelda Fitzgerald is, of course, a pictorial catalogue of most of the paper dolls which were painted by Zelda Fitzgerald during her life, but it's so much more than just a well curated pictorial history. Due out 22nd Nov 2022 from Simon & Schuster on their Scribner imprint, it's 127 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats. 

Curated and annotated by Zelda's granddaughter, Eleanor Lanahan, this charming book is full of colorful and well reproduced paper dolls as well as full of recollections of playing with the dolls (gently), pictures of her mother playing with paper dolls, and many recollections of her family and growing up as a part of a very famous literary family. 

The reproductions are clear and beautifully detailed with tiny intricate wardrobes and historical figures with armor and fancy dress.

This would be a good choice for public library acquisition, for lovers of paper dolls and ephemera, and for drawing and painting inspiration for home use. 

Four and half stars. 

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Like many people, I was familiar with who Zelda Fitzgerald was based mostly in connection with her husband, F. Scott Fitzgerald. While I knew little tidbits about her, they were minimal and only things I heard - again - in direct correlation to how it impacted her husband.

As a little kid, I absolutely loved paper dolls. They were so beautiful, detailed, and so fun to play with. I didn't previously know that Zelda made paper dolls, nor that she was such an incredible artist (do yourself a massive favor and look up her cityscapes and fairytale paintings!). The combination of personal stories, historical information, and insight into her life was eye-opening for me. Written by her granddaughter, this book was a gem in the making that was perhaps slightly stilted by the poor formatting for Kindle/eBooks.

While I enjoyed learning about her from such a personal source, with warmth that was reminiscent of sitting round the table with family, the dolls themselves were nearly impossible to accurately view or even piece together. They were awkwardly formatted and split in half to separate pages. It was disappointing and difficult to reconcile.

However, that being said, I feel like a physical copy of this book would be lovely and would close the gap of disconnect between the stories and the dolls. The content is there, the interest is there, the curiosity is there, but the format flattens the book right as you are gaining momentum. I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in classic literature figures and art enthusiasts - but would explicitly recommend purchasing a physical copy or checking it out from your local library.

This lovely book, written by the granddaughter of Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, highlights one of Zelda's lesser-known talents--paper doll artist. Interspersed with the gorgeous paper dolls and costumes are prose descriptions of the dolls and a brief biography of Zelda. Photographs of the couple and their daughter, Scottie, are also included. It's a miracle that so many of the paper dolls have survived for a century and a shame that more haven't. This book is a brief but necessary "read" for fans of the Fitzgeralds and the Lost Generation. #ThePaperDollsofZeldaFitzgerald #NetGalley

This is one beautiful book. Interesting to learn the history on Zelda Fitzgerald and how she found inspiration for her designs. I am still gushing over some of the outfits (omg Red Riding Hood's cape!) Visually stunning book that is a joy to look through.

The Paper Dolls of Zelda Fitzgerald is a beautiful tribute to the life and art of a cultural icon. Her characters and their costumes remain vivid decades later, containing exquisite, sometimes surprising details. Women have the strong body and well-sculpted legs of a dancer perhaps from the influence of Zelda’s dance training. Men’s costumes embrace styles that contemporary culture would consider feminine. The wolf from Red Riding Hood is the most surprising of all—no spoilers here!

This book also serves as a reminder of past neglect of women’s contributions to art. How much more of Zelda Fitzgerald’s artistic legacy would have survived if her attempt at publishing a book of paper dolls in 1941 had been successful? What other marvels are forgotten in attics and basements or destroyed altogether because the artist happened to be a woman?

Highly recommended for collectors of art history. Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for providing a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book includes some interesting insight to Zelda Fitzgeralds life along with the dolls grouped by type and and story. This is very insightful because it provides an even deeper look at where this woman was in her life.

I can't write a decent review of this book because the ebook review copy I received had almost all the images split into several files/pages and displayed out of order on my Kindle. The historical material and archival photographs are interesting to see and have access to, but I don't know how this could work as an ebook release. I hoped the images would be intact so I could evaluate whether to seek out a physical copy and I may request a hard copy from the library when it releases, but very disappointed in this review copy. Not helpful or assembled in any logical way.

This little gem of a book indulges my love of paper dolls (favorite childhood toy by far) and my fascination with F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC and Eleanor Lanahan (the granddaughter of the Fitzgeralds).
I enjoyed the brief commentary of the life of Zelda (and Scott) including many reproductions of family photographs. Zelda was a talented creative person in her own right. I did not have any idea that she created paper dolls and I love that she did them for her daughter Scottie. I liked the family paper dolls with their more realistic body images.
The dolls are presented by categories with a brief synopsis of the stories that inspired them. The physiques and faces of most of the dolls are uber dramatic. The costumes were truly gorgeous, colorful and detailed. For me the costumes were the stars of the work.
It would be tempting to trim out the dolls and their costumes to share with my own children/grandchildren.
What a special book offering!. Expected publication date is 11/22/22.

This is a beautiful book! Any lover of paper dolls in their childhood will love looking at these beautiful drawings by Zelda Fitzgerald. This will make a lovely coffee table book and conversation piece. Perfect for lovers of the 20s, the Fitzgerald’s, vintage fashion, and art.

“The Paper Dolls of Zelda Fitzgerald”
by Eleanor Lanahan

The Little-known Artistic Genius of America’s Most Glamorous Flapper

Zelda Sayer Fitzgerald, Southern belle and Roaring 20s style-setting wife of “The Great Gatsby” novelist, F.Scott Fitzgerald, was also a novelist, playwright, ballerina, and most impressively, a talented artist as shown in her granddaughter, Eleanor Lanahan’s new full-color illustrated biography of her, “The Paper Dolls of Zelda Fitzgerald.”

Resplendent with captivating photographs of Zelda, Scott, and their daughter, Scotty, “Dolls” is a treasure trove of memorabilia from Fitzgerald’s life. It's a personal reflection of family love and loss through biography and art shown through Zelda’s stunning watercolor and gouache paper doll collection of historical, fairy tale, and fashion characters.

Zelda, a professionally trained artist and a ballerina—both of which are apparent in her paper doll art (that she originally made for her daughter, Scotty—many of which are still fully intact after almost 100 years and are shown in whole or part in this collection.

These designs demonstrate Zelda’s comprehensive command of watercolor painting, especially the use of negative white spaces brilliantly. A fashion icon during her era, Zelda also painted fabric draping, historical garment styles and human anatomy with ease, getting that vision down on paper because she also knew anatomy well.

Her years as a ballerina taught her about musculature, posture and stance—all of which she painted into her paper doll figures. These designs are exceptional in design, concept, shading, color usage, costuming design, imagination, and execution.

Zelda was an unexpected and unrecognized artistic genius. These designs show the remarkable talent that should have been recognized and rewarded for their uniqueness and creativity during their creator's lifetime. Thank you, Eleanor for making your grandmother's dreams come true by publishing her art as a collection.

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Title: “The Paper Dolls of Zelda Fitzgerald”
Author: Eleanor Lanahan
Genre: Arts & Photography | Crafts & Hobbies | Non-Fiction (Adult)
Publication Date: 22 November 2022
Publisher: Scribner

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My sincere thanks and appreciation goes to NetGalley, Author Eleanor Lanahan, and Scribner for this Advance Reader’s Copy (ARC) for review.

A collection of all the gouache 9opaque watercolors) dolls painted by Zelda Fitzgerald, mostly for he daughter, Scottie. With elaborate costumes the dolls are from history, literature, and fairy tales.

A beautiful book for all paper doll lovers, amongst which I include myself. I loved paper dolls very much in my childhood and grew up obsessed with them until my mid-teens, collecting as many as I could. I even made a cousin of mine with artistic talent draw some for me, which I'd ten colour and cut and display.

I knew who Zelda Fitzgerald was, both as wife of F. Scott as on her own merit, but I had never before known she had created paper dolls. That was a pleasant thing to learn, reading this book full of anecdotes by her granddaughter Eleanor Lanahan, and gazing at the pictures of her dolls. What exquisite fashion sense Zelda had, regardless of the period she was placing her dolls' costume in, from Roaring Twenties flapper to Versailles court grand lady, they are always so well-dressed. She even made male dolls, but it's her feminine dolls that shine and enchant. Lanahan was right in describing these dolls as "showstoppers," that would be my opinion too. Period paper dolls are the best paper dolls, I think.

A wonderful read Zelda Fitzgeralds paper dolls were lovely to look at.I enjoyed reading about Zelda’s creations for her daughter.This will make a lovely gift.#netgalley#scribner

Perfect coffee table book that shows another side to the enigmatic Zelda. Beautiful and must be owned!

I love paper dolls. When I was little, I loved playing with them (there was a Barbie set I LOVED) and now have a small collection of the Tom TIerney/Dover ones. So, when I saw this, I was intrigued. I wish there had been more written by the author (Zelda and F. Scott's granddaughter) about her family, both as family stories and a biography of Zelda. The artwork was fun and so historic with the French court.