Polychrome

The first piece of Oz art by John R. Neill that I purchased was this drawing of Polychrome, from Tik-Tok of Oz. The drawing came from Books of Wonder in New York City, years ago, and in an earlier life had been in the collection of Justin Schiller. As always, it's amazing to see the finesse of the original artwork, something that was often lost when the pieces were reduced in size and printed on pulpy paper.

This drawing was used over the title of chapter seven in the book. In the final printed version, the hand-lettered caption was dropped in favor of a typeset title. This is the only chapter drawing I am aware of that has the hand-lettered title. Even as a kid, I thought the alliteration in the chapter titles was a bit of a gimmick - Polychrome's Pitiful Plight, Betsy Braves the Billows, Tik-Tok Tackles a Tough Task.....but it is kind of cute.