Vintage Barbie Resource Books

• Two volumes, Barbie Fashion 1959-1967 and Barbie Fashion 1968-1974,  cover the vintage outfits with beautiful color photos and detailed descriptions of each accessory that came with the outfit.  These two volumes are all you'll ever need to identify this period of vintage Barbie clothing.  They also include fashions for Skipper, Ken, Tutti, and Francie and touch on dates of production for the dolls.

• To get more detailed descriptions of the dolls, The Ultimate Barbie Doll Book is your best bet.  It includes manufacturing numbers, mold and copyright information,  makeup colors, accessories that were sold with the doll as well as manufacturing flaws and quirks.  The book has information for hundreds of dolls over the years but shows the vintage period in detail including Barbie's friends.  I doubt there will ever be a book published with this much information on the early Barbie years at Mattel.

• Barbie Structures and Furniture, a delightful book of vintage Barbie structures and other furniture and accessories.  It also includes the MOD period structures.  Just seeing the pristine structures like Barbie's Little Theatre set up in scenes is worth the price of this book.  Each structure has the official list of accessories.  This book is no longer being published, so you'll need to click on 'these sellers' on the page you land on when clicking the above links to see if it's available from a used book seller.  It's worth it!

• Skipper:  Barbie's Little Sister is the ultimate resource guide for everything Skipper.  It includes all outfits from Skipper's beginning to 1978, as well as those marketed internationally and prototypes of Skipper outfits you'll never see anywhere else.  This book is also a Tutti resource book.

• Who doesn't love those colorful vintage Barbie vinyl cases?  The Barbie Doll Vinyl Cases book includes photos and information about every size, shape, color, and accessory you can imagine connected to vintage Barbie "Ponytail" vinyls.

• Francie & Her Mod, Mod, Mod World of Fashion is everything you ever wanted to know about Barbie's cousin, Francie.  Such a colorful book beginning with Francie fashions from 1966 on.  Color photographs of pure psychedelic power.

• The last book, Barbie in Japan, is a real gem.  A well-made book that is so breathtaking you could use it simply as a coffee table book because of its quality and beautiful photos that would appeal to anyone.  The book details the fashions made available in Japan, some of the most sought-after vintage Barbie items there are.

These are my favorite resource books.  Not only are they filled with an amazing amount of information, they are just fun to browse through because of all the lovely photos of the vintage dolls and clothing.

I've never seen any of these books for a much lower price than on Amazon, especially considering that if you buy at least $25, the shipping is free.  But you might find some good deals on eBay (see below).  But remember to add shipping to the cost of the book if you buy it on eBay!