Instructor: Jointed Toys by Bess Bruce Cleaveland

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Jointed Toy Patterns I & II: For Coloring, Cut Out and Construction Work by Bess Bruce Cleaveland, 1920

Free PDF Downloads courtesy SUNY GENESEO


Bess Bruce Cleaveland

"Bess Bruce Cleaveland (1876-1966) was born in Washington Court House, Ohio. She studied art at the Art Students League & Pratt Institute in New York, graduating in 1901. After teaching art for six years, Cleaveland turned to illustrating books, teacher’s magazines, and other commercial art projects. Cleaveland worked in ink and watercolor. Children and animals were her favorite subjects. In addition to drawing most of the cats and dog in Washington Court House, she visited zoos to study and sketch wild animals. Her backyard garden attracted birds, squirrels and rabbits, all of which she sketched." Ohio Memory Collection

"Long before magnetic “paper” dolls and interactive walking, talking baby dolls, there was Bess Bruce Cleaveland’s Jointed Toys. Filled with patterns to be copied, enlarged, assembled, and decorated (whether in paper or wood), Cleaveland’s two-volume set offered potentially hours upon hours of make-believe fun for children in the early 20th century. The books provide explicit directions in general for copying and assembling the patterns as well as specific instructions per pattern for coloring and/or making extra copies of a toy part. The jointed toys include duos (e.g., clown and donkey), seesaw duos (e.g., Mary and her Lamb, two jolly pigs), familiar animals (e.g., dog, goat, rooster, tiger, zebra), famous figures like Santa Claus, and characters from legendary Mother Goose nursery rhymes—Wee Willie Winkie, Humpty Dumpty, and Boy Blue are among the most common; Daffy-Down Dilly and Polly, Put the Kettle On may be less familiar. (summary written by Kim Hoffman)" SUNY Geneseo KnightScholar 

NOTE: These links are to free downloads from SUNY Geneseo. You can also purchase a reprint, published by the University Library.



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