An anthology of the books written specially for Queen Mary's Dolls’ House in the 1920s, containing letters penned by many of the authors who were involved.


The Book of The Queen’s Dolls’ House, edited by A.C. Benson, Sir Lawrence Weaver and E.V. Lucas, was published in two volumes in 1924 on the presentation of Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House to the public. The first volume, edited by Benson and Weaver, covers the creation of the Dolls’ House and gives details of the decoration and furnishing of its rooms. The second volume, edited by Lucas, is about the books in the Dolls’ House’s miniature library. This two-volume set was acquired by the Royal Library in January 2023. It had belonged to Leslie Chaundy, a bookseller who was instrumental in collecting books for the miniature library. Tipped into the second volume are 57 letters from 37 different writers who corresponded with Chaundy about their involvement in the Dolls’ House Library scheme, including Rudyard Kipling, Somerset Maugham and John Masefield.

The Dolls’ House was built between 1921 and 1924 as a gift from the nation to Queen Mary, consort of King George V, who was known to enjoy collecting miniature objects. The gift was in thanks for Queen Mary’s support to the nation during the First World War and the subsequent economic turmoil. The idea of creating the Dolls’ House was that of Princess Marie Louise, King George V’s cousin, who masterminded the project, working closely with the miniature house’s architect, Sir Edwin Lutyens.

The Dolls’ House’s Library stretches across its ground floor, taking up the whole of the east range of the building. It contains 595 miniature books, of which 176 are manuscripts penned by many of the most significant writers of the early twentieth century. The task of organising the collection of the manuscripts lay with Princess Marie Louise, assisted by Lutyens, Leslie Chaundy and E.V. Lucas. The prolific writer Lucas was brought into the organisation of the project in 1922, but it was Chaundy, a London-based bookseller, who initially contacted writers on Princess Marie Louise’s behalf. Chaundy seems to have overstepped his responsibilities and fallen out of favour with Princess Marie Louise, and by spring 1922 was no longer involved in the project. Nevertheless, on the publication of E.V. Lucas’s edited anthology of the manuscripts in the Dolls’ House Library in 1924, Chaundy memorialised his involvement by pasting into his copy letters sent to him by authors who contributed to the project and wrote to discuss their participation.

While the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle holds around 900 letters and other documents concerning the creation of the miniature library of Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House, there are noticeable gaps in the correspondence with many of the authors involved, particularly concerning their initial conversations about participating in the project. Letters in Chaundy’s copy of E.V. Lucas’s book fill in many of these gaps. They also shed light on the practicalities of writing in miniature, for example revealing that the blank booklets that were sent for authors to fill were glued or sewn at the spine to keep the pages together, but were not otherwise bound. Steps in the organisation of the project become clear, including possible hints at difficulties faced by Chaundy in keeping up with the administration. Chaundy’s letters also reveal two authors who were invited but did not ultimately participate: the possibility of Richard Bagot and Lascelles Abercrombie being involved was not known until their letters surfaced in this book.

The correspondence added to this volume greatly enhances our knowledge of details surrounding authors' involvement in the Dolls' House Library.