Dolls in Horror Novels

Thanks to my former English prof, who is still a good friend, I found the book pictured below, Paperbacks from Hell. This is a study of the paperback novels done exclusively for paperback sellers with graphic, original cover art.  Many of these, like those pictured here, featured dolls or robots.  Sometimes, the dolls were part of the cover art.  Artist Jill Bauman, in particular, used dolls.  Others, like many books by Pat Graversen and Ruby Jean Jensen, were about dolls that went more than bump in the night.

These were very popular during the 70s ad 80s when I was growing up.  Similar stories popped up on Scholastic's book catalog and at our book fair.   As a doll collector, I was always interested in them; I love to study the roles dolls play in society.  It's funny that, as popular as these stories were, "creepy doll" phobias were not in evidence.

Books by Jensen can cost over $300 in tip top shape.  Bauman's cover art can be hard to locate because she, and the other cover artists, often were not credited add did not sign their work. I've started collecting these books seriously; I already had a few and included them in my book A Bibliography of Doll and Toy Sources, but now I'm collecting in earnest. They are fun, and I still don't understand the doll phobia connected with them, but in the immortal words of Sly Stone, "Different strokes for different folks."  I think a lot of the doll fears were studied in The Uncanny Valley. 

An assortment of paperbacks featuring doll related topics or plots.

More spooky doll books. note the French bisque doll on the Winston book.

Close up of The Doll Castle.  Real antique dolls are show on the cover.

Paperbacks from Hell