old popular bjd magazines / publications

Just lately I bought a couple of the old books from around 2005, that were all about bjd. Partly because I love the sculpts of those early dolls & partly I realized there was much about bjd history that I didn't know & want to preserve.
The nostalgia of your first Dolly Dolly magazine & still having it is lovely!

 

Oooooh, Dolly*Dolly and Dollybird--it was SO exciting to discover them, years ago! There are still a couple of stray issues I would like to track down, but they never seem to pop up on Dollyteria or Y!J (so I suspect everyone else wants the same back issues, heh).

 

I remember Haute Doll magazine! I remember I found one once in a Barnes and Noble and was so giddy to see BJDs somewhere offline.

 

I remember Gothic Lolita Bible sometimes had BJD in it too!

 

I remember a very similar experience when I found my nearest Barnes and Nobles carried Haute Doll! That was a beautiful magazine.

FDQ magazine was another highlight when I could find one.

 

I have about a dozen Dolly Bird Issues and two Dolly Dolly. Dolly Dolly seems a little harder to find second hand, depending on the issue, but I think Dolly Bird is still produced. It's a Mook style publication so only one issue every six months to a year. Their most recent issue was under a different title (1/12th scale knits for dolls) but it just came out this past October. The issue before that was in July and was a regular release.

And gosh I miss Haute Doll. I remember going to B&N to pick up the latest issues. I still have a bunch of those and will look through them when I want to walk down memory lane.

 

I've gotten a few this past year that where new to me and secondhand:

The BJD's Orbyrarium - has nice pictures and how to's (might be the first english BJD's how to book)
Arcadia dolls - a doll clothes designer that put out a picture book
Unoa Freak - vol.s 1, 2 and 3
Mr. Hoffmann's Toybox, I have issue 1 and 2 not sure if there are more - has some BJD's in it

These already mentioned:
Dolly*Dolly-vol. 1-39
Dolly*Dolly also put out a series of pattern books vol. 4 has pics and patterns for Unoa and 6 has pics and patterns for Tinyfairy and Unoa
Dollybird-vol. 1-38
DollyJapan-vol. 1-4 had some BJD's but mostly off topic dolls
HauteDoll - this magazine is were I first saw ABJD's I miss this magazine too. Used to sit in B&N and read it first then buy if I had the money and really wanted the issue.
Dolls
dollreader
FDQ

These are all the mooks, books and magazines I have currently.
Most have other off-topic dolls in them as well and all worth a look if you can find them.

 

The 4 lines at the top of my list I got secondhand from ebay. The rest I bought as they were coming out except some of the very early Dolly*Dolly's I got secondhand too mostly from ebay. Back then they had good pricing and it was the only place to buy them secondhand. Now you can get them anywhere like mercari japan, dollyteria, mandarake.

I love it now that I have a translator app I can go back and read them instead of just looking at the pictures.

 

I was gifted a copy of the Orbyarium a while back and I still look in it occasionally. Amazing to see just how much this hobby has changed over the years. I grew up on the old Gothic & Lolita Bibles and like many my first exposure to BJDs came from them (I also remember coverage in one of the English GLBs from the Dolpa at Huis Ten Bosch). Haute Doll was another and I saw Unoa for the first on the cover of Dolly Dolly magazine when I was looking for patterns for a Blythe I had back then!

 

I really like dollybird and dolly*dolly. I made a list of all the patterns available for MSD, SD and DD sizes in every dollybird, and the dolly*dollys that I own. I mainly buy books for patterns and sewing. The older books seem to have more for resin dolls, while the newer ones seem to focus more on play line and newer off topic dolls. I've also recently acquired Koname's little custom lessons for super dollfie 1-5. I honestly enjoyed them, even if there wasn't a ton of new information for me or many patterns in them. They are really fun to look at, and feature tutorials on things like hair, modifying clothes and taking care of your doll. Other books I've found BJD in include gothic lolita bible 34 (includes patterns for a doll bonnet, hat, head dress, apron and stockings) and a few issues of kera maniax; I'd have to look to see which ones. As someone else said, Dolly Japan has a few photos, but there are only patterns for off topic dolls. There's also the little princess dress making for super dollfie. I think even if you don't sew, the photos are cute. Super dollfie dress book volumes 1-6 are okay, but personally I think they feel a bit amateurish. The books were thin, and if you don't sew, they aren't really that beautiful to look at compared to some others. The limited pictures do give a nostalgic feeling, however, since they are quite old. Personally if I had to start my collection over, I'd start with some older dollybirds, after confirming the issue I'm buying contained BJDs. They offer the most content, and are really fun to flip through even if you don't enjoy crafting and sewing.

 

Omg yes! I’ve got one Haute Doll magazine that I think I got from Borders. IIRC there’s a really cool section about the history of Volks and Volks x BTSSB collabs in the issue I’ve got. So nostalgic I love it. I love revisiting my old magazine collection from time to time lol.