The Magic of Oz

After heading out of town last week, I realized I was a bit remiss in not mentioning L. Frank Baum's birthday on May 15th! He was born in 1856, making this his 152nd birthday - also, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published on May 15th, 1900, 108 years ago.

The Magic of Oz was the first Oz title published under the new publishers imprint of Reilly & Lee. The remaining titles in the 40 book series would all be published under this imprint.

L. Frank Baum died before this title was published, leaving this and a second book to be published posthumously. After a bit of a slow-down a few years earlier, the Oz series was gaining in popularity at this point - this makes sense if you figure that children who read the first books would be old enough to be starting families, and purchasing books they enjoyed as children themselves - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published in 1900, and this title appeared in 1919.