More Road

I have a copy of The Road to Oz that seems to be unique - at least at present. On the rear cover, the stamped image of Dorothy and Ozma shows the two girls holding hands - in subsequent stampings, the hands were left off. The reason is fairly clear to me, the hands just confuse the image. It's much clearer and more graphic without them.

I'm assuming that this is a sample or test binding for the book. At any rate, it's certainly the earliest state of the binding since the hands would have been removed from the stamping plate for subsequent issues. The interior has all of the first state qualifications, and the spine imprint is slightly different from that used on the standard version. This just goes to show that variations can still be discovered, even after over 50 years of serious collectors!

Artwork does survive from this book, mostly in the form of full page drawings. These were some of John R. Neill's most elaborate Oz illustrations, and any one of them would be a centerpiece for a collection of Oz artwork. Unfortunately, I don't have any - but I haven't given up hope!

As always, if anyone does come across a similar copy of this book, I'd love to hear about it. If another shows up, it could help to indicate what exactly this is - a sample/test binding, or an earlier state of the cover.

More Denslow Covers

Another example of changes to covers W. W. Denslow drew for Rand McNally is The Marbeau Cousins. On the left is the original cover, while on the right is another later version. All that remains are three of the crows, and the lettering of the title and author's name. And those crows look awfully familiar...they're very similar to the frieze of crows under the Scarecrow in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I think connections like that are always interesting.

The Road to Oz

1909 brought The Road to Oz by L. Frank Baum. Here again, Reilly & Britton were producing an elaborate and attractive book. This time the book had a stamped cover, but the dustjacket had a different image showing Dorothy and friends, printed with a metallic gold background. The pages of the book were printed on various colors of paper. All of this was part of the "distinctive bookmaking features" Reilly & Britton advertised. Below, I show a 1920 printing of the book, after the stamped cover was replaced with a color plate using the dustjacket image. The gold metallic background was replaced with blue, which was later replaced with yellow.

This book introduced several characters who would re-appear in later books - the Shaggy Man, Button Bright, and one of my favorites, Polychrome, the daughter of the rainbow. I was never as fond of the Shaggy Man and Button Bright. Something about the Shaggy Man disturbed me - I think it might have been his beard - and Button Bright was a little too infantile. I grew fonder of both in later books.

I have a small John R. Neill drawing that pictures a tramp who, with a little imagination, could be the Shaggy Man before he got so shaggy! This could be a magazine editorial illustration, ca. 1920 or so. The caption reads: The farmers wife who out of pity gives a good meal to a tramp is acting more wisely than the functionary who compells the tramp to earn his meal by hard labor.

I remember reading an old Baum Bugle article that referred to this as the "most dangerous Oz book", due to the fact that Dorothy arrives in Oz after wandering off the farm with a strange man. Certainly not an example to set for children! Personally, I would think Aunt Em and Uncle Henry would keep a closer eye on her - she had already been swept away in a cyclone, blown off a ship at sea, and fallen down an earthquake. Clearly, she attracted trouble.

A Different Flying Monkey

This piece of artwork was done by John R. Neill around 1918 and was published in Pictorial Review magazine. It's a bizarre image that I call the monkey funeral - but is the monkey really dead, or is this perhaps a scam funeral? His toes certainly seem to be clutching the end of his coffin, and he is wearing quite the outfit. The crashed plane in the background leads me to think that the monkey may have been flying - not quite a Winged Monkey, but maybe a relative! Obviously, I have no idea what this drawing is actually illustrating, but it's a fascinating image.

A label on the back of the board reads: Charge to PR / Order no. 5321 / In work 1/10/18. I've been told it might possibly have been used to illustrate a Mrs. Mahoney story. Once again, if anyone runs across this image in print, I'd love to hear about it!

Del Rey Oz covers

In 1978, the Del Rey company decided to start reprinting the Oz series as trade paperbacks and market them as science fiction. As part of their re-packaging, new covers were created for the books. These covers were painted by Michael Herring in the super-realistic sci-fi style of the time. A couple years ago I managed to acquire a number of these paintings.

The first cover Herring did, to secure the job, was for Ozma of Oz. For this cover he took a Neill drawing from the book, and translated it into a full scale painting. This was the technique he followed for most of the Baum titles. It is interesting to compare the original Neill drawing, and the painting based upon it. The essentials are the same, but Ozma is now a blonde. The Scarecrow and Tin Woodman have more of a resemblance to their MGM counterparts rather than the book characters, and Ozma has been given a greater sense of purpose. She now looks as though she's driving forth to conquer, not simply crossing the desert in her chariot. Also, the magic carpet the characters are using to cross the desert has been given a curve, rather than the severe straight line of the drawing.

Some of the whimsical quality of Neill's original is lost, along with the sun rays bursting as clouds scud across the sky. In the new version, an unobstructed space had to be left for the book title. On the published book cover, the image is cropped - more severely on the right side.

The originals of these cover paintings are very well done, and much larger than the paperback covers for which they were created - Ozma is 22" x 30", and an impressive piece. This is the best series of major Oz paintings that I am aware of extending past the first, and best known, title. Certainly these images are iconic for those reading the Oz series in the 1980's, as this was the most readily available set of the books. I've been unable to find any current information about the artist - there were a few articles in the Baum Bugles of the time period. Any more recent information would be appreciated!

Denslow Book Covers

Before W.W. Denslow teamed up with L. Frank Baum to produce some of the most successful children's books of their time, he was a well regarded poster artist. He also designed a number of book covers for Rand McNally between 1896 and 1898. Many of these covers were like miniature posters themselves, colorful and eyecatching.

Denslow signed his work on these covers with his usual sea horse or hippocampus. I find it interesting that some of the books seem to have gone through several printings, and in a number of cases the seahorse was dropped in later states. A good example of this is Romance of a Child - the first printing, with a grey background is clearly marked with the hippocampus above the author's name. A later printing, in a new color scheme, has dropped the symbol.

These covers were not simple stock images. In the case of this book, Denslow had clearly read the text as all the cover images relate to the story within - the child watching the fire, the religious reference of the cross, the fireplace tiles with motifs of sailing, etc.

Another example is Rosemary and Rue. I have two different versions of this binding (I'm afraid the gold lettering did not scan well on the tan version), and neither has the hippocampus symbol. I know of a third version, similar to the tan example but with a gold, rather than red, heart. This one is not signed either. Just another of those little publishing mysteries!

More Dot and the Wiz

Dorothy and the Wizard was the first vintage Oz book I bought, when I was about 15, and it confused me to no end. I was not familiar with the printing history of the book at that time, and all I knew was the Rand McNally paperback that I owned. This book has a cover which was redrawn by Dick Martin for the 1960's Reilly & Lee versions (shown at right). This version also had a drawing on the rear cover, adapted from one of the original color plates, and Dick Martin adapted several of the watercolor plates into ink drawings for additional illustrations within the book. Confused yet?

The old copy that I bought (at left) had no Dorothy on the cover, the Wizard was painted rather than the ink drawing I knew, and inside the book there seemed to be pictures missing! I didn't know there had originally been color plates. Anyway, none of this stopped me searching for vintage Oz books - this just fueled my interest. I knew there had to be something out there with more artwork, and this intrigued me.

Dorothy and the Wizard

Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz was L. Frank Baum's Oz book for 1908. I've always thought that this was a very awkward title, and the story itself has never been a favorite.

The Oz books were always colorful, but here Reilly & Britton were aiming for more lavishness. This was the first book in the series to use metallic inks on the cover and spine, and to reproduce watercolors for the color plates. This was also the first Oz book to have a printed paper cover plate rather than a stamped cover design. Neill's illustration style has become more elaborate, leading up to the next year's book. Once again, I don't know of any artwork surviving from this title.

Below I show 3 copies of the book - on the right is a first state of the book, with the gold metallic cover. On the left is a ca.1912 printing by Reilly & Britton in dust jacket, with the gold dropped from the cover. This book suffered more than most in reprints - first the silver was dropped from the spine, then the gold was dropped from the cover, then the number of color plates was reduced. Eventually, the picture of Dorothy was dropped from the cover to make way for the words "Popular Edition", and even after the words were dropped she never made her way back again. This left a rather unbalanced and unattractive cover.

The third copy I show is from 1938 and was produced by Reilly & Lee for Sears Roebuck, to cash in on the upcoming 1939 film. The cover is a very uninspired adaptation of one of the color plates from the book, which were no longer in use, and the book was cheaply produced on inferior paper.

Neill Art

John R. Neill's illustration skills were used for much more than just the Oz books. As well as drawings for other books, he did a great deal of magazine and newspaper work. I've been fortunate to have the opportunity to purchase pieces from the Neill family that are not Oz related, but show a wide range of the artist's skill.

Neill's illustrations were one of the incentives for me to read the Oz series. The style and apparent ease of his work always impressed me. One of the nicest things about his original artwork is the scale - a drawing that might only have been 4" wide in print can be 10" wide in the original - giving a much better impression of the artist's skill.

Neill injects grace and whimsy into most of his work. Even the following editorial illustration has a touch of humor. This appears to have been published, possibly in Colliers Magazine, in 1920. The caption reads: America's leading product is propaganda. The bottom right of the board (not shown) reads: Fear not the Trumpeter / or / Rendering yeoman service to the / benevolent and neglected God Optimism. The back of board reads: pub Jan 10/20 / Fear not the Trumpeter / by John Neill. I have not managed to find a copy of this piece in print - if anyone does, I'd love to hear about it!

Ozma

Ozma of Oz, from 1907, was the 3rd Oz book by L Frank Baum, and re-introduced Dorothy Gale to the series. Ozma has one of my favorite covers from the Oz series, very bold and colorful. The original dustjacket had a completely different image, similar to a poster for the book. At left is a first edition of the book, and above are a first Canadian edition (the first Oz book published in Canada), a copy from 1913 with a partial dustjacket and a 1923 copy in dustjacket. When Reilly & Britton became Reilly & Lee in 1919, the stamped cover of the book was replaced with a paper label repeating the dustjacket design.

I do not know of any artwork surviving from this title, however I do have several pieces from a 1950's edition that never happened. Reilly and Lee were working on updating the Oz series, and started to issue the books with new illustrations by Dale Ulrey. The Tin Woodman of Oz was the first to get this treatment, followed by the first Reilly & Lee printing of The Wizard of Oz. Some illustrations were drawn by Ulrey for Ozma of Oz, but it was never put into publication. At left is a drawing of Ozma and friends before the Nome King.

The Wogglebug

The Wogglebug Book was published in 1905, during L. Frank Baum's attempt to turn The Marvelous Land of Oz into a musical extravaganza. This book is not generally considered an Oz book as it takes place in the USA, following the Wogglebug on a series of escapades. It is actually a continuation of the 1904/1905 Queer Visitors comic page. My copy which I'm picturing to the left is in so-so condition - this is a large book, with cardboard covers and not designed to last.

Ike Morgan, who was a friend of W. W. Denslow, illustrated The Wogglebug Book. He had previously provided some illustrations for American Fairy Tales by Baum. An original Wogglebug illustration is shown at right, together with the color printed page from the book. I also have a paper overlay that was used to indicate some colors for the printers. This really only gives a very minor indication of what was what - the most colorful things being the poppies, and the stripes on the Wogglebug's turban!

Oz Comics

From August 1904 to February 1905, Baum authored an Oz comic page. This was titled Queer Visitors from the Land of Oz, and was drawn by Walt McDougall, one of the earliest comic strip artists. I was fortunate to purchase a nearly complete run of the strip off of eBay several years ago. I'm still missing 4 episodes - but I'll track them down someday.

The stories dealt with Oz characters visiting the United States and the seeming strangeness of this non-magical land. Toward the end of the run, the stories turned into more of Baum's American fairy tales rather than anythng particularly Ozzy.

A gimmick which ran with the early episodes of the strip was the What did the Wogglebug Say? contest. Each strip ended with a question, and readers could mail in an answer to win prizes. Two pinback buttons were distributed to advertise the contest - I've pictured both.

Denslow also did his own Scarecrow and Tinman comic page during the same time period. This followed the two main characters through various locales. Unfortunately, I don't have any of those pages!

Another Bookplate

A few days ago I mentioned another bookplate drawing by John R. Neill in my collection. This one is again from 1906, and bears a striking resemblance to work Neill did that year for John Dough and the Cherub, another book by L. Frank Baum. Pictured below is a first edition of the book.

This fellow looks like he could belong to the Brotherhood of Failings, or perhaps be a relative of the Kinglet. I've included a couple illustrations from the book to show the resemblance.

Pumpkin Men

When L. Frank Baum wrote The Marvelous Land of Oz, he introduced Jack Pumpkinhead, who became an ongoing character in the Oz community. On the right is an image of Jack by John R. Neill, from the rear cover of a first edition of the book.

Interestingly, in 1904, the year Land was published, W. W. Denslow also published a book with a pumpkin man as a major character. The Pearl and the Pumpkin was written by Denslow and Paul West, with hopes of creating a musical extravaganza. Denslow and Baum had parted ways by this time, but one can't help wondering if the two of them had discussed the possibilities of such a character earlier, during their working relationship.

I have a drawing from The Pearl and the Pumpkin, not of the pumpkin man but of another character called the Corn Dodger. He's a corn man - close enough. The printed book illustration added a second color, a fairly common practice in books of the time. Most of Denslow's books had color added by the printer, under Denslow's supervision. The actual drawings were black & white. This is also true of most of the color plates drawn by John R. Neill for the Oz books. Only Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, and The Emerald City of Oz had color plates printed from actual watercolors by the artist.

John R. Neill

W. W. Denslow illustrated the first Oz book, but John R. Neill became the official Oz illustrator. Starting with The Marvelous Land of Oz in 1904, he would go on to illustrate 35 Oz books, including 3 he wrote himself, as well as the 6 book Little Wizard series. At the time of his death in 1943, he had a fourth Oz title written, which was finally published in 1995.

Above is a first edition of The Marvelous Land of Oz. Considering the amount of Oz artwork Neill created, very little survives today. I'm aware of some pieces from Marvelous Land, in particular some of the color plate drawings. Artwork also survives from later Oz books, but again, it is a small proportion of what was originally created.

The earliest piece of Neill art that I have is from 1906, and is a bookplate drawing. I have two of these, and know of a third which I believe belongs to the Oz club. They are all signed COPYRIGHT 1906 BY J. R. NEILL, but I don't know what they were created for. I think the fact that each has a copyright notice points toward the idea of them being published to be used as bookplates, rather than being drawn for particular books, since Neill didn't generally put copyright notices on his drawings. In the image I'm showing, the two children could easily be Dorothy and Button Bright. Neill didn't draw Dorothy until the following year, 1907, in Ozma of Oz, and Button Bright doesn't appear until 1909 in Road to Oz. Still, it's fun to think of these two as precursors to the more famous characters.

The MGM Wizard

The 1939 MGM film of The Wizard of Oz has had a profound influence on American pop culture. There are few people who have not seen the movie at one time or another, and even they can usually quote some of the more famous lines. I did have a friend who was quite proud of the fact that he had never seen the movie, but I think that was the result of a lot of determination.

The number of collectible items spawned by the film are almost uncountable, and I don't make an effort to collect film related pieces. Above, I have a set of Wizard of Oz Paper Par-T Masks from 1939. A similar set of masks was released by Gillette the same year for Walt Disney's Pinocchio, although that movie didn't open until 1940.

I don't have a clear recollection, but The Wizard of Oz movie must be what inspired me to read the Oz books in the first place. I know I watched it on TV every year for as far back as I can remember - early on, we used to visit an Aunt & Uncle for the big night, as they had a color television set. Much more impressive than watching it on our small black & white!

In 1975, Marvel comics created an oversized comic book of the film. Below is the artwork for a page of that comic. This was followed by an adaptation of The Land of Oz, but the series faltered and plans for a third comic adaptation were dropped.

More Denslow

I don't have any Denslow artwork from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, but I do have a piece done for another Baum/Denslow book, Father Goose, His Book. This was L. Frank Baum and W. W. Denslow's first success, published in 1899, and was a milestone in American picture books. It was the best selling children's book of 1899, and spawned a number of imitations.

The pages of Father Goose are basically a series of posters drawn by Denslow, who had already achieved recognition as a poster artist. To eliminate typesetting, and save money, the verses were hand lettered and dropped in during the printing process.




What I find interesting with the piece of artwork I own, is that the drawing looks to me as though it were drawn with the intention of printing it as it stands - the arrangement of animals, and the header of the moon (or sun) look very deliberate. Yet, in the printed book, the animals are re-arranged over 2 pages, and the moon is used for another poem altogether.







It's also interesting to note that these are the same four animals that figure in The Bremen Town Musicians by the Brothers Grimm.

The International Wizard of Oz Club

In my last post I mention IWOC - I'd be remiss not to talk about the International Wizard of Oz Club in a discussion of Oz. Created in 1957, IWOC has helped foster Oz collecting and the study of all things Oz for 50 years. The club is a volunteer organization with a periodical (The Baum Bugle), and various conventions around the country. As a budding Oz book collector, the essential information needed can be found in Bibliographia Oziana, published by the club. If you have a true interest in tracking down first editions/printings/states of the Oz books, you need this guide. The publishing intricacies of the Oz books take some sorting out, and it's easy to make mistakes through ignorance. The club website can be found at www.ozclub.org