Customer Reviews

Collectors Guide to Horsman Dolls 1865-1950

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Don Jensen certainly has "put meat on the bones" for the Horsman Company. A newspaper writer and editor by training, he comanded the considerable research skills necessary to ferret out extensive information on the Horsman company and their early chief designer, Helen Trowbridge. It also made it possible for him to present for the first time ever a picture and markings of the earliest composition doll made by Solomon Hoffman. Horsman's product line is delt with comprehensively, from the early imported dolls to cloth, bisque during WWI, composition and finally plastic. Not only is this an indispensible reference book for doll collectors, but also makes for fascinating reading.

It's about time someone did a comprehensive study of the Horsman company and the wonderful dolls they made. This is a book that will prove valuable to all serious researchers and collectors. Let's hope Jensen will write more books of this caliber.

This is an informative, useful guide. My only complaint is the uneven quality of the photographs. The photos come from many different sources, so their quality varies widely. I'm not referring to the old catalog illustrations; their sometimes poor quality is understandable. I'm talking about the photos of the dolls themselves. Some are crisp and clear, while others suffer all the problems of amateur photography: grainy, out of focus, too much flash, etc. This reduces their usefulness. Still, it's better to have some visual information than none at all, so I'm happy to have this book.