The page spreads shown here offer a brief browse through the book. We've taken care to create an art book of the highest quality to match the scholarship of our resources, the breadth of the collections represented, the unique views of factories and artists' studios, and the insights we offer of the world of the matryoshka. We hope you are intrigued by these few samples. Moreover, we hope you'll order the book.
		The history of the Russian matryoshka dates from the 1890s, when a doll-within-a-doll was produced by Vasilii Zvyozdochkin, a master toy maker in Sergiev Posad, a monastery village known for several wooden toy workshops. His doll was painted in Moscow's Arbat by well known artist Sergei Malyutin (doll in lefthand page above). From late czarist Russia, through the Soviet era, to the present day open market economy, we follow the dolls from folk craft to icon of Russian culture.
		Every step of the process of making the matryoshka is explained and presented in full color plates. Photos were taken in factories that are only a couple days' drive from Moscow, but nearly a century away in the spirit of handcraft and old-world technology.
		We see the workers in the factories preparing the lathe-turned blanks by hand rubbing them in starch to seal the grain of the wood, thus preventing spreading or "blossoming" of the paint.
		A chapter on the sizes, shapes, and varieties of the dolls is complemented by a thorough survey of the themes represented on dolls that are produced both in factories and by independent artists.
		We tour the cities, villages, and factories of the matryoshka with attention to the specialties and unique qualities of dolls from each location. Above are two pages about Polkhovsky Maidan, the village where, if you do not turn doll blanks in your backyard workshop, you do not live in Maidan.
		The painting studios in the factories employ primarily women of the village. It is steady work and many of the artists have parents who also painted matryoshki.
		The independent artists of the matryoshka work in their homes. They work on their own schedules and sell their dolls either to middlemen or directly in Moscow's Izmailovo market or other venues. Some artists are self-trained, others have many years of study in prestigious schools of fine art in Russia. All build and continue a tradition of doll making that not only secures them a living, but offers a canvas for their expression and talents.
		In a final chapter on collecting matryoshki, we discuss various approaches to building a matryoshka collection, including guidance on evaluating quality. We conclude the book by observing that collecting matryoshki is a way to participate personally in the continuing evolution of this Russian folk craft.
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