In January 1859, an eight-year-old Alice Longfellow was given the toy duck and doll-sized dinner set pictured here. Her mother recounted the occasion in a letter to her sister, writing “Poor Alice I did not venture to take in, after her illness, but she bore the disappointment very amiably, & was consoled by seeing her presents at her bedside next morning. Charley Norton sent her a duck with a whole dinner set inside him, - a real Giroux toy, which, of course, was highly admired.”
The present, presumably a New Year’s gift, was given to Alice by Charles Eliot Norton, a writer, scholar, social activist and friend of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, with whom he shared a deep interest in the works of the medieval Italian poet Dante Alighieri. Norton gave young Alice a somewhat lavish gift, as the duck and its associated “dinner set” were from the high-end Parisian retailer A. Giroux.
François-Simon-Alphonse Giroux was a French art restorer and cabinetmaker famous for catering to the highest levels of French society from his Paris store, founded in 1799. In addition to furniture, Giroux was known for making and selling luxury accessories such as clocks, mirrors, early cameras, and toys. The papier-mâché duck shown here, with a small label on the underside reading “A. Giroux”, is one example. The duck is painted in the colors of a male mallard, and the top half can be removed to reveal an interior storage space which held the associated miniature dinner set, also pictured. The dinner set consists of plates, bowls, a tureen, and even tiny candle sticks, all made from wood and hand-painted with intricate designs. The set is an excellent example of a luxurious mid-19th century toy.
The Paris store was managed by Giroux’s sons into the 1860s, when the operation was taken over by their cousin Ferdinand Duvinage and his partner, a Mr. Harinkouck. It ultimately closed for good in 1885.