Raggedy Ann and Andy and the Camel with the Wrinkled Knees by Gruelle, Johnny (1880-1938) - 1924

unpaginated with colored frontispiece and illustrated through out. Octavo (9" x 6 1/4") bound in stiff pictorial boards. Illustrations by Johnny Gruelle. First edition. Johnny Gruelle created Raggedy Ann for his daughter, Marcella, when she brought him an old hand-made rag doll and he drew a face on it. From his bookshelf, he pulled a book of poems by James Whitcomb Riley, and combined the names of two poems, "The Raggedy Man" and "Little Orphan Annie." He said, "Why don t we call her Raggedy Ann?" Marcella died at age 13 after being vaccinated at school for smallpox without her parents' consent. Authorities blamed a heart defect, but her parents blamed the vaccination. Gruelle became an opponent of vaccination, and the Raggedy Ann doll was used as a symbol by the anti-vaccination movement. This work is the third book in the "Raggedy Ann and Andy Series." Condition: Some internal fingering, spine ends rubbed, front head corner paper rubbed off, front cover rubbed through in several places. A better than good copy.