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Long before the emergence of the large toy conglomerates of the twentieth century, the Maison Jumeau of Montreuil-sous-Bois near Paris, France had an international reputation for fine quality dolls. A century before Barbie was a household word the Bébé Jumeau formed the international benchmark for the highest quality and most desirable doll

The Jumeau company first emerged as a partnership between Louis-Desire Belton and Pierre-Francois Jumeau in Paris, 1841. By 1845 Pierre Francois Jumeau was trading in his own right. Although the Jumeau firm rapidly won commendation, including medals at international exhibitions for the outstanding qualities of the dresses in which their dolls were presented, very few Jumeau dolls can be securely identified dating before the 1870s. In 1872 the company began to produce its own porcelain heads, which they also supplied to other dollmakers. By 1877 the first Bébés (or dolls in the image of a little girl) were produced. In 1878 the Jumeau company won the unprecedented honour of the Gold Medal at the Exposition Universelle (1878). The award was proudly advertised on the bodies, boxes, shoes and even the dress labels of the dolls. Jumeau won a number of other high awards including the prizes for the best dollmaker at both the Sydney International Exhibition (1879) and Melbourne International Exhibition (1880) in Australia. The "Golden Age" of the Jumeau factory lasted for two decades from the late 1870s to the late 1890s, when the competition from German dolls sent the firm into financial difficulties. The Jumeau dolls from the later 1890s are of more variable quality. German dolls in the 1890s were cheaper than the French, but still well made and much loved by little girls, even if they were by no means as elegant or graceful in face or costume as the best Jumeau dolls. The Jumeau company became part of the French conglomerate the Société Française de Fabrication de Bébés et Jouets. The S.F.B.J. still continued to use the Bébé Jumeau trademark throughout the 20th century, even producing dolls in the manner of Jumeau.

• Juliette Peers The Fashion Doll From Bébé Jumeau to Barbie Berg Publishers Oxford 2004

• http://www.geocities.com/bebe_jumeau/