Songs of Spring

Songs of Spring, from 1916, is a paper covered book published by the Uplifters Club of Los Angeles. L. Frank Baum belonged to this group, which was an offshoot of the Los Angeles Athletic Club, and is pictured on the front cover, on the far right.

The Uplifters was formed by Los Angeles businessmen, and was similar to the idea of the Bohemian Club of San Francisco. The Scarecrow of Oz is dedicated to the Uplifters, and members of the club backed the short lived Oz Film Company.

The book compiles poems from the "Spring Poets' Dinner" of 1914, 1915 and 1916. Baum wrote the introduction and is listed as Poet Laureate of the Uplifters. He also contributed a couple pieces of poetry to this book - as well as being mentioned in several. Apparently Baum played the bass drum in the Uplifters band, and made quite an impression!

The Uplifters established a social club and ranch in Rustic Canyon, near Santa Monica, and many members built second homes there for weekend retreats. The club disbanded in 1947.

One of Baum's pieces -

The Massacre

The Spring is the time to make verses;
It's also the time to hear curses;
And I know that I'd orter
Be lead to the slaughter,
Unless the next poem far worse is.

Sketches

Today I'm showing two pencil sketches by John R. Neill, for unknown projects. On the right is a delicate nude study, with a suggestion of tree and landscape behind the figure. On the left, a rear view of a man in contemporary dress, similar to many magazine pieces drawn by the artist. These are both very sensitively drawn, and I think they are a lovely pair of examples.

Del Rey Hungry Tiger

Michael Herring's exciting cover for the Del Rey edition of The Hungry Tiger of Oz features the Hungry Tiger and friends traveling down a firefall. This would be along the same lines as a waterfall, only different... I have to admit, this painting makes me think of a circus poster - it must be something about the tiger.

On the back of the tiger we have Betsy Bobbin, Prince Reddy of Rash, and the interesting fellow on the end is Carter Green, the Vegetable Man - the flames make his ears (of corn) pop. Yet another example of the puns scattered throughout the Oz books!

John R. Neill provided a color plate of this same incident for the original book. He provides a more fanciful vision of this event, with the travelers engulfed in the flames. The super-realistic style employed by Herring does remove some of the magic of the moment, but I think part of the fun of his paintings is the chance to see impossible events presented in a straightforward way. It provides an interesting contrast to Neill's images, which for me will always be the true representation of events.

The printed version of this painting crops quite a bit of the image. As usual, we are focused more closely on the characters.

When I Grow Up

When I Grow Up was originally a series of illustrated poems created by W. W. Denslow for St. Nicholas Magazine in 1909. These poems were compiled together with a few additional pieces and published as a book by The Century Company. Century had already published L. Frank Baum's story Queen Zixi of Ix, which was also serialized in St. Nicholas Magazine.



The book had color plates, as well as line drawings and a number of black and white half-tone illustrations. Unfortunately, the half-tones really don't do justice to Denslow's work - I think he's much better in full color.

A number of caricatures are sprinkled through the book, images of Teddy Roosevelt, Sherlock Holmes, William Jennings Bryan. I'm sure there are others I don't recognize off-hand.

There seems to have only been one printing of this book. But, an interesting bibliographic point has popped up on the two copies I own - the publisher used two different spine imprints for this title.

Hungry Tiger of Oz

The Hungry Tiger of Oz gives Betsy Bobbin another chance as a leading character in an Oz story. Betsy was basically a Dorothy substitute in Tik-Tok of Oz, and tends to simply get lumped along with the other American girls in Oz.

In this book from 1926, Ruth Plumly Thompson used Betsy in a starring role, along with the Hungry Tiger. I feel the Tiger also received minimal attention in other tales - but then, he is rather similar to the Cowardly Lion. One of the nice things about the number of Oz books written, is that almost every character eventually gets a chance to lead a story!

I believe most of the drawings for the color plates in this book survive. From what I can tell, there isn't much rhyme or reason to what does and doesn't exist in terms of Oz artwork.

Movie Editions

The 1939 MGM movie inspired a few special reprints of Oz titles, simple attempts to cash in on the publicity generated by the film. Bobbs Merrill produced a new edition of The Wizard of Oz with sepia toned endpapers featuring several stills and character portraits from the movie.

The dust jacket proudly proclaims it to be "the only edition containing the complete original text..." Unfortunately, by this point many of the Denslow illustrations had been dropped. Only a third of the original color plates were being used, and these are no longer in full color, appearing washed out and dull. The ingenious use of color throughout the book had already been dropped long ago.

Reilly & Lee produced three new "popular editions", selecting The Land of Oz, The Scarecrow of Oz, and The Tin Woodman of Oz. They obviously felt that these titles would have the most appeal to someone who had seen the movie - regardless of where the stories fell in the sequence of publication. These books were larger than the standard Oz titles, and had new covers and dust jackets.

The Land of Oz is particularly interesting, since Dorothy and the Wizard are prominently placed on the cover of the book, when they do not appear in the story!

I mentioned in an earlier post that Reilly & Lee produced a new edition of Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz for Sears, Roebuck at this time. This volume is smaller than the standard Oz book.

All of these books feature new, colorful artwork on the covers by uncredited artists - Dorothy and the Wizard is based on a John R. Neill colorplate that was no longer in use, and The Wizard is based on a Denslow drawing . They are certainly eye catching, but I prefer the original artwork of the books.

Declaration of Independence

Here is a John R. Neill drawing for the 4th of July. The caption reads "The crown and class distinctions were never meant to thrive on American soil", and the image shows a colonist grasping a copy of the Declaration of Independence while chasing a British soldier away at sword point. It's a typically energetic Neill drawing, and was published in Pictorial Review, circa 1920.

A label on the reverse side of the board reads "Charge to PR / Order no.5921 / In work 12/13 / Delivery 12/14". There are also two unrelated sketches of cats on the back of the board, one very simple and the other a bit more complete - Neill was once again being a frugal artist.

Thompson Books

Ruth Plumly Thompson wrote other stories during her years as Royal Historian of Oz. One of her earlier books is a collection of short tales called The Princess of Cozytown, which was published by Volland in 1922. This is the same company that published The Perhappsy Chaps, and this book follows the same format - paper covered boards, presented in a matching box. The copy shown on the left is in its original box, and the lovely illustrations are by Janet Laura Scott. The Wonder Book was a collection of stories by Thompson, compiled and published by Reilly & Lee in 1929. Many of these pieces were from her earlier days on the children's page of the Philadelphia Public Ledger newspaper. My copy is pretty worn, but the International Wizard of Oz Club has recently published a new edition of this title.

Annabel

Annabel, from 1906, was the first of L. Frank Baum's pseudonymous books. This is the only title written by Baum under the Suzanne (or Susanne, depending on the edition) Metcalf name.

It's been a while since I read this book, but I remember when I first read this story, I thought the title was a bit strange since the character Annabel doesn't have much to do. However, she does inspire the protagonist so I suppose the title is appropriate!

This book is very difficult to find copies of, and generally quite expensive. My rather worn copy is the second edition, with a new cover design. The first printing was more in the style of Aunt Jane's Nieces and Sam Steele's Adventures - a slightly smaller, simpler book with a paper label on the cover. For Annabel, the label was shaped like a bow.

Lost King of Oz

The Lost King of Oz, from 1924, re-introduces the wicked witch Mombi - last seen in The Marvelous Land of Oz. In this book, Ruth Plumly Thompson attempts to tie up some of the loose ends that L. Frank Baum left floating through the Oz series. I always liked Mombi, and was glad to meet up with her again. Having had her magical powers removed, the old woman became a cook, and developed some rather amazing culinary products and abilities.

I like the cover of this book - the colors are vibrant, and I think it is one of the nicer images of Ozma. She still appears to be a young girl, and has not morphed into the dragon lady that she appears to be in some of the later books!

I know of one illustration surviving from this book - the drawing for the color plate shown on the right. As was usual, the original is drawn in black and white, and the colors were added by the printers when printing the book. Since one drawing survived, perhaps a few others did as well!

The Master Key

L. Frank Baum wrote The Master Key for his son Robert, to whom the book was dedicated. This tale from 1901 tells of the power of the Demon of Electricity, and the inability of mankind to make proper use of his gifts. Some of these gifts are precursors to items later found in the land of Oz, where magic is a science, after all.

Fanny Corey provided the illustrations for this book - she also illustrated Baum's The Enchanted Island of Yew. I'm not aware of any artwork surviving from this title.

I've always liked the later binding state of this book. This was produced after the publisher Bowen-Merrill changed their name to Bobbs-Merrill. The title page still reads Bowen Merrill, but the new name of the firm is on the spine. The gilt stamping of the title and author has been dropped, but I think the yellow binding makes the book look more cheerful - the original olive drab is a bit - drab.

Although Bobbs Merrill kept most of Baum's early titles available into the 1920's, this title seems to have been dropped from the lineup - I don't know why.

Art Advertising

Today I'm showing an advertising piece, offering John R. Neill's services as an illustrator. It's interesting to see what images have been chosen to sell his talent - they're all quite a bit more complex than the Oz work he was doing at this time. This seems to be aimed at advertisers looking for someone capable of creating artwork to sell their products.

The A. Rowden King company was founded around 1920 and located in Manhattan on Broadway. From what I've read, A. Rowden King (1883-1968) was also an editor of the advertising trade journal Printers' Ink, which was a very influential magazine - so it looks like Neill found himself a good representative!

This pamphlet is an accordian-fold piece, reproducing various illustrations. In the picture posted above, the image on the left is the drawing I posted yesterday from Silk Both Sides, published in Century Magazine in 1921. The center image is from From Pillar to Post, published in 1916 by The Century Company, and the beautiful drawing on the right is from Will o' the Mill, published in The Housewife in 1916. The blurb calls out some of Neill's accomplishments, stressing how well his art holds up to reproduction - a mention of his work on the Oz books is also included.

On the reverse side I've only identified one drawing, which is the upper left image of the seated Southern Gentleman - this is also from From Pillar to Post.

Silk Both Sides

Here is another beautiful John R. Neill illustration for another story by Lorna Moon. This was published in Century Magazine in December 1921. The story was titled Silk Both Sides, and deals with a woman resigning herself to spinsterhood.

I think this piece is interesting for showing the technique used to change part of the image. On an elaborate drawing of this sort, if there is an unfortunate ink blot or the artist wants to make a change, it really isn't practical to start over. In this case, Neill altered the area with the woman's face by pasting a new piece of paper over the original drawing. When printed, this would not be visible. The large board has aged over time to a darker tone than the paper overlay, making it easier to see.

The drawing has wonderful detail, and elaborate pen-work creating various textures. Even though his Oz illustrations had become much simpler, this is certain proof that Neill was still capable of working in the elaborate style of earlier Oz books.

Del Rey Grampa

I find Michael Herring's cover painting for the Del Rey edition of Grampa in Oz very interesting. The image is not taken from any specific John R. Neill drawing, and Herring has been far more accurate in his depiction of Urtha than Neill ever was. According to the text, Urtha's "...face, hands and neck were of the tiniest white blossoms, her eyes, deep blue violets, her mouth a rosebud, and her nose and brows delicately marked with pink stems." In the close up I'm showing of Urtha's face, the white petals of the skin are visible, as well as the flower eyes.

The book goes on to describe her hair made of flowering ferns, her skirt of blossoming vines, and her waist of every flower you could think of, with pansy buttons . This is one point were Herring slightly misinterpreted the text - I think by "waist", Ruth Plumly Thompson meant shirtwaist, or blouse, not just a belt around the middle.

I also have a preliminary sketch for this painting, which differs from the finished piece. Urtha appears much less human, in a slightly different pose, and there is a much more elaborate garden background that was dropped for the final image. Grampa himself is pretty much identical to the finished cover!

Surviving Oz Art

I am aware of approximately 170 surviving pieces of published Oz artwork by John R. Neill. There are also a number of unpublished pieces, sketches, etc. I know that's not a complete number, but even if it were doubled - which seems unlikely - it would be a far cry from the amount of work Neill did for the series. He illustrated 35 Oz books, plus the Little Wizard series. Early advertising for the Oz books states that each book has over 100 illustrations - some have quite a few more - so out of over 3500 pieces of art, the number of surviving pieces is really quite small.

One of the largest archives of remaining Oz artwork was sold through Books of Wonder in 1984. Their Art of Oz catalog contains pieces that had remained in the publisher's files until that time. I still drool over some of the pieces in that catalog!

Illustration art was not considered of much value, in the not so distant past. I've heard stories, whether true or not, of Oz illustrator/author Dick Martin pulling artwork out of dumpsters after Reilly & Lee was bought by Henry Regnery Co. While it's difficult to believe that anyone would simply dispose of such wonderful things, it was common practice. Fortunately not everything was destroyed, so there are still original pieces to be enjoyed today.

Urtha

Here I have two John R. Neill drawings of Urtha, from Grampa in Oz. You could say that Urtha was the original flower child, seeing as she's made of blossoms! Neill didn't really capture this aspect of the character - she appears as his standard fairy girl, although strands of flowers do trail from her.






The first drawing is a basic portrait, and the second illustrates a point in the story when Urtha is floating in an underground lake. These illustrations are simple and effective, but not nearly as elaborate as the work Neill produced for the early Oz books.

Grampa in Oz

Grampa in Oz was the Oz book for 1924. By this point Ruth Plumly Thompson had settled in as L. Frank Baum's successor, and been accepted as the new Royal Historian of Oz. Most of her stories followed a simple questing formula, with a couple groups of characters searching for various things, and eventually joining together.




I have a couple original drawings for this book, by John R. Neill. Neill's artwork helped to bridge the gap between Baum and Thompson, and I think it played an important role in the continued success of the series.

The piece on the right is a drawing of Prince Tatters, the hero of the story. He has just won the hand of the Princess of Isa Poso - unfortunately, the hand is all he won, and he is quickly disposing of it! The Princess, who is made of ice, has already grown a new one.

Feckless Maggie Ann

John R. Neill did a lot of magazine work during the golden age of illustration, when there were many magazines filled with illustrated stories. This type of publication doesn't really seem to exist anymore, at least not at a mainstream level.

Feckless Maggie Ann was written by Lorna Moon and published in Century Magazine in April 1922. Neill illustrated a couple of stories by Lorna Moon (what a name!), dealing with rustic Irish folk. I find her stories a bit depressing, although I suppose, in a certain sense, they might be considered uplifting. This piece shows a dockside scene, and is a nice example of Neill's use of both bold and delicate line. It was published in the magazine as a full page illustration.

This was the first piece of Neill artwork I purchased, 20-some years ago.

Denslow Designs

W. W. Denslow did book covers for Rand McNally in a number of different styles. The two examples shown here are both simpler designs, although still striking. Both use basic graphic elements from the stories to create covers.

In the case of The Strange Story of My Life, the animals shown hint at the various countries and nationalities in the story. For Whoso Findeth a Wife, story details are shown in the letter, crown and necklace.

These are not as exciting as some of the other covers Denslow created, but they do catch the eye. I particularly like the large block of orange on The Strange Story of My Life - it grabs your attention!

Del Rey Cowardly Lion

Michael Herring takes us into the sky, in the Flyaboutabus, in this cover painting for the Del Rey edition of The Cowardly Lion of Oz. He's taken elements from a couple different John R. Neill drawings, and combined them into a dramatic image with a real sense of soaring through the air. Herring's paintings all have a very theatrical appearance, very much like a stage tableau.

This is another large (2' x 3') painting, and the detail on the small figures is quite nice. The cropping on the printed version of this piece clips the tail feathers and removes some of the sense of open sky - but the effect is still good.