Dot and Tot of Merryland, from 1901, was L. Frank Baum and W. W. Denslow's follow up to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. This was the last book the pair did together - all in all it's a cute book, but not nearly as memorable as Wonderful Wizard. Denslow did nice work in the illustrations, and the use of color throughout the book adds richness. There are no full color plates, which I do miss, but otherwise the overall look is very handsome.I've always found the Queen's scepter on the cover a bit jarring - it looks like a grinning skull on a stick! I think it's meant to be a jester or clown, but still... I suppose if you really made an effort the whole book could be interpreted as a near death experience with the Queen of Merryland as some sort of Grim Reaper figure... but I'm not even going to go there.
The book went through several printings. On the right I'm showing a first edition, together with a Donohue reprint in dust jacket, and a 1920's Bobbs Merrill edition with a new cover featuring one of Denslow's great clowns.
Then there's the new edited edition which used none of Den's original illustrations. To add insult to that injury, they got Donald Abbott to illustrate, who based his style off of Denslow's...
ReplyDeleteIt's like imitation cheese: it tastes all right, but the real stuff is much better.
(Interesting skull-theory...)