Welcome to my blog, featuring various pieces from my collection of Oz books, artwork and memorabilia!

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Nieces in the Red Cross


The final book in the Aunt Jane's Nieces series was published in 1915, Aunt Jane's Nieces in the Red Cross. In 1918 Reilly & Britton reprinted the book with an additional 4 chapters written by L. Frank Baum, making considerable changes to the ending.

The dustjacket on the 1918 version has a War Savings Stamps medallion on the spine. I've also seen this stamp on the dustjacket of a Reilly & Britton 1918 printing of The Road to Oz. From what I've read, the War Saving Stamps program was principally aimed at school age children - if so, the idea of advertising them on children's books make sense. The stamps cost 25 cents each, and would then be placed in an album, which when filled could be exchanged for a war savings bond. The idea was to save money as well as contribute to the war effort. The program was revived during World War Two.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's interesting to compare the label and jacket images considering the earlier post about the color printing methodology earlier.

Does that AJN IN THE RED CROSS jacket have a black or blue plate or is it just a much, much darker green? It certainly has much improved contrast.

Bill Campbell said...

It's a little hard to say - I think it's still a 2 color process, with a dark blue/green, which is what's giving it the added depth - the label also is deeper, unlike the earlier copy. I really can't tell for sure!