The Queen's Doll's House

> But Mr. O’Grady must have been the first writer to seriously consider the physics of the miniature.

Railway modelers (and probably ship modelers before them) were in this domain before that. Real water doesn't look right on a model layout. Also things like the practical dimensions of the rails and the speed at which things move. The scaling of the physics is important for a live steam model, as it affects the operation as well as the physics.

Apart from that, scale models were a primary engineering tool before the advent of computer simulation [1]. Models are still used for training ship pilots [2], and these models must account for how physical properties scale.

[1] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/97834336096... [2] https://www.portash.com.au/

I've seen this Doll House in person recently, it's on display at Windsor Castle. While it's extremely weird that it exists at all, if you get past that, it's an exceptional example of art and craft. So much incredible detail. It's unfortunate that it's behind glass and you can't really spend good time with it, because I could imagine being in there for hours and still not seeing all the nuances.

I suppose it's the same reason I love Miniland at Legoland. Huge miniature worlds so meticulously crafted. It boggles the mind.

Colleen Moore's fairy castle also dates from the 1920s, and is also very impressive. It's on display in Chicago.[0] Evidently the dining set in the Moore castle is a copy of the one in the Queen's Doll's House. [1]

[0]: https://www.msichicago.org/explore/whats-here/exhibits/colle... [1]: https://www.msichicago.org/explore/whats-here/exhibits/colle...

I've seen that doll house referred to as a shining example of between-the-wars British craftsmanship.

> It’s unholy, and that’s because dollhouses are not made to be lived in; they’re barely fun to play with. Dollhouses are for looking.

What? They’re sets for telling stories with. Barbie dumped Ken for Skipper, and then Darty Vader moved in when his spaceship crashed. Now the Smurfs and the Ponies are besieging the dollhouse along with the Warhammer elves your brother started painting. Can Darty’s Force powers save the day?

Royale Collection Trust site (linked): https://www.rct.uk/collection/stories/queen-marys-dolls-hous...

Good short video there.

Reminded me of Lester’s comments in The Wire that he makes substantially more money making miniatures for dollhouse collectors than he does working as a cop.

One of the intriguing things about The Secret World of Arrietty is that they animated to account for the difference in the Borrowers' size. Every liquid they handle, for example, during cooking -- even water -- appears much more viscous than it would be at human scale.

The text of Arthur Conan Doyle's short story for the library is available online

https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/How_Watson_Lear...