Edith, The Lonely Doll, is a character in the much loved vintage storybooks by Dare Wright that date from the 1950s. The main character is Edith, an early 109 series Lenci Doll of 1924 see b/w picture below from the 1924 Ars Novita Catalog,  that was a childhood doll of Dare Wright’s, one of two Lenci dolls she had kept since her childhood. Her other Lenci was a boudoir doll.

The Lonely Doll Makes New Friends: A Story In The Dare Wright Tradition is a more recent book with color photos that features Dare Wright’s Edith doll in her original Lenci outfit. – on the left is the original 1924 Lenci catalog picture of Dare Wright’s Lenci doll Dare was an amateur photographer and she used her talents to make a series of storybooks that featured scenes she created using her Lenci doll and teddy bears to tell the story. Some of the scenes were setup in her own appartment in New York, or in outdoor locations. Dare Wright’s talent as a photographer and story teller found wide appeal and the Lonely doll books are still popular today among collectors.  The main character  Edith, the Lenci doll had lost much of her original curly hair so Dare made a new wig for her and a series of costumes for each story. Edith’s companions are a large 22 inch Schuco Yes/No Bear that is called Mr Bear, and a smaller 9 inch Steiff Jackie bear called Little Bear. They get into all sorts of adventures and the photographs have a great appeal that endures. Lenci doll collectors will find the books of interest. If you have an old 109 series Lenci doll in poor condition and missing her outfit one idea for a makeover is to dress her up as Edith. There are some easily copied ideas in the books for inspiration.