Johnny Gruelle was an American artist & children’s book author. He is the creator of the Raggedy Ann & Andy books. Over the years, he published 40 stories about these two rag dolls & their playmates. Johnny Gruelle wrote the first Raggedy Ann book and gave his daughter, Marcella, the doll his mother had made to play with. He had the Raggedy Ann doll patent done on September 7, 1915 and in 1918 the first book was published. This year Raggedy Ann is celebrating her 100th year anniversary (1915-2015). Annie wears a blue dress with eyelet apron and a special tag to celebrate this event. She is 25″ tall.