It’s not always easy to get the information you need in the Barbie world. There are several books about Barbie but which one is good and which one is bad? What is contained in the book? When found out that there were books in the early 2000s I was very confused. Which would be the right one for me? I bought everything I found piece by piece. Some books are limited editions. The prices explode as soon as they are sold out. The content really varies. Some books are good for ID. They contain a huge quantity of Barbie dolls with their boxes.
Others focus on special topics like Skipper, the younger sister of Barbie. Some books are really useful for learning about Vintage Barbie ( Vintage era from 1959-1967) and how to differentiate the early Ponytail Barbie dolls.
There is a book series by Sarah Sink Eames about fashion until 1979. The series consists of three books, one for the Vintage era, one for the MOD era (Mod era from 1967- approx. 1976) and the last book contains the early Superstar era until 1979. You may ask yourself now what to do if you have fashions produced after 1979. Well, some collectors refer to Barbie Journals. I don’t know if they were available in the US too but in Europe they were. You could find them in lots of toy store with a Barbie doll department. When I was little there were at least 2 editions every year with the latest dolls, fashion, furniture and pets. It was like a little catalogue.
In four weeks before Christmas I always was very fascinated by them with their perfect environment. Pure advertising but I liked it in time before we had the Internet.