Item Details:

THE NEW PRETTY VILLAGE

MCLOUGHLIN BROTHERS, NEW YORK CITY

EARLY AMERICAN TOY, 1897

Chromolithographed Paper on Wood and Cardboard

Size: 15 X 19 in; 38.1 x 48.3 cm, framed

The New Pretty Village tabletop toy was one of the more elaborate paper toys issued by McLoughlin Brothers. It was offered in three models (four buildings, eight buildings, or the whole village with sixteen buildings) and was first released as “The Pretty Village” in 1890. Each set came with paper people, trees, and animals that stood up on metal clips and could be arranged on a paper mat that had the entire plan of the village set out with roads, a river, and farmland. The toy was reviewed by The American Stationer: “This delightful amusement is of just that sort in which little children delight, because when busy over it they are, to all intents and purposes, part of the scene itself. . . . It is one of those engaging playthings that children never tire of, and in which their lively fancies have a wide field for exercise.” This set can be regarded as the culmination of the paper toy line that began with McLoughlin Brothers penny paper dolls in the 1850s.
Source

Provenance: Private collection, New York City from whom the current owner obtained the work