Captain Salt and Handy Mandy

Captain Salt in Oz, from 1936, was the first Oz book without color plates (not counting Road to Oz, which didn't have color plates but did feature pages of different colors of paper). This is also the only Oz story that never quite gets around to arriving in Oz itself. The characters are all Thompson's own, with no Scarecrow, Tinman or other traditional Oz celebrities - but as the main characters were already introduced in Pirates in Oz, the book fits right into the series.

I've always liked the way John R. Neill used the ship's wheel to create the word Oz for the cover title - this is the only time he did anything of that sort.

Handy Mandy, from 1937, is one of the odder characters Thompson came up with. A girl with seven hands takes a bit of getting used to - but I've always liked this book. Thompson's writing can be fairly slapdash at times, but the overall breeziness is enjoyable.

The spine of Handy Mandy in Oz used a stamped image of the main character's head. This same head was used the following year on Silver Princess in Oz. I also have a circa 1939 copy of Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz with the same head. Handy Mandy got around!

Children's Stories

In 1908, Reilly & Britton published a popular series of small books called Children's Stories That Never Grow Old, with illustrations by John R. Neill; I believe the Neill illustrations for this series were originally done for the Philadelphia North American newspaper. These individual books were published in a couple of formats, and as The Children's Red Books they were printed two to a volume - I've pictured a couple different binding examples. They continued to be published by Reilly & Lee into the 1920's, with new cover designs.

A compilation of these stories was published in 1908 under the title Children's Stories That Never Grow Old. In 1916, another book was published called Ever New Stories for Children, containing the titles which were not used in the first volume. Then, in 1922, Reilly & Lee published Children's Poems That Never Grow Old, obviously intending to tie into the popular series. John R Neill created 8 new illustrations for the book, which were printed as color plates.

I have a copy of Children's Stories That Never Grow Old which was published by The Musson Book Company of Toronto. I find this interesting, as Reilly & Britton worked with the Copp, Clark Company for the Canadian editions of the Oz books and other titles. It strikes me as odd that they would use a different publisher for this book.

Wishing Horse

The Wishing Horse of Oz, from 1935, was the last Oz title issued with color plates. It's a shame that the color illustrations were dropped from later books, but this was the Depression and I'm sure costs needed to be cut. Ruth Plumly Thompson also thought it was unfortunate that the plates were discontinued, but at this point she was unhappy about several aspects of the Oz series, particularly Reilly & Lee's lack of promotion of the books.

John R. Neill drew a horse, way back in his Nip & Tuck comic page of 1909, that looks very similar to the cover of this book. Of course, Neill drew a great many horses over his career, so it's not too surprising that some should resemble each other!

The white dustjacket for this book almost slips back to the former style of jacket, less colorful than the past several books. But this does make it stand out from other titles on the shelf!

Magic Umbrellas

When thinking of traveling by umbrella, Mary Poppins is the first image to pop into my mind - due mainly to the Disney movie, rather than the books. But L. Frank Baum introduced a magic umbrella for traveling in 1912, in Sky Island, and in 1934, the same year that Poppins was published, Ruth Plumly Thompson introduced Umbrella Island in Speedy in Oz. The entire island travels through the air, and is covered by a huge umbrella.

In his afterword for the International Wizard of Oz club edition of Speedy in Oz, Fred Meyer calls out the various umbrellas Thompson made use of in her Oz stories. He mentions seven in all, some magical and some not, but Umbrella Island certainly is the largest.

Incidentally, I find it interesting that Button Bright's umbrella in Sky Island has an elephant head for a handle, just as Mary Poppins' umbrella has a parrot head. I suppose unique umbrellas need unique handles!

Altemus Titles

John R. Neill illustrated a number of books for the Henry Altemus publishing company, of Philadelphia. Many of these were standard series titles, for boys and for girls, and are mostly forgotten today. Neill isn't credited for his work in most cases, but his drawings are unmistakable.

He also illustrated several smaller story and fairy tale books for the company. These were done around the time of Marvelous Land of Oz, and the illustrations are in a simpler style - but highlighted with red and blue.

King Kojo

King Kojo has the look and feel of an Oz book, with its colorful cover, dust jacket and illustrations, but this story published in 1938 was Ruth Plumly Thompson's attempt to break away from Oz. The book was published by David McCay, and illustrated by Marge, a close friend of Thompson's and the creator of Little Lulu.

The story - or series of stories - could easily fit in an Oz book, possibly taking place in one of the little kingdoms created by Thompson throughout the land. The same fanciful sense is present - there's even a comment by a character stating that "ogres melt in salt water, just like witches" - certainly a variation on an Ozian theme.

The color plates are bright, and Marge's work is energetic, if in a very different style than John R. Neill. Some of her artwork makes me think of James Thurber, particularly Dorcas the giant figurehead!

Del Rey Speedy

Michael Herring created a somewhat macabre painting for the cover of the Del Rey edition of Speedy in Oz. Of course, that's not too difficult when one of the main characters is a living dinosaur skeleton! Here we see Terrybubble the dinosaur floating through the air, with Speedy and Gureeda tucked inside his rib cage.

I also have a preliminary sketch for this piece. The image is basically identical, except that the dinosaur bones are brown rather than white - probably a truer depiction, but the white bones do brighten things up a bit! The background hills have also grown, against a more dramatic sky.

John R. Neill also drew this incident as a chapter title. His Terrybubble looks a bit more flexible, but Speedy and Gureeda are difficult to distinguish.

This is the last of the Herring paintings I have. He painted one more, for The Wishing Horse of Oz, but the Del Rey series ended at that point. I've heard rumors of possible sketches for further titles, but I've had no luck in finding whether these exist.

Oz Game Board

I was asked to post a complete picture of the Wonderful Game of Oz board, so here it is. There's a bit of glare but I think the details are all pretty clear if you click on the image for an enlargement.

The game was copyrighted in 1921, and the board shows quite a few characters from The Magic of Oz, which was published in 1919. I don't see anything specifically from Glinda of Oz (1920), so possibly the board was designed before that book was published. At any rate, 67 characters and places are pictured on the board, as well as a few small countries, which I think is doing pretty well!

A Denslow Cover?

According to the Greene/ Hearn biography, W. W. Denslow created a cover for the book Gemma, published by Rand McNally in 1898. I have a copy of this title but I'm not completely certain whether it has the Denslow cover. I think it does, but it is a little difficult to say - there is no seahorse signature, which is the easiest way to be certain, but as I've shown several times, the signature is not always present.

The overall look of the cover is a bit different than I would expect. The type used for the author's name certainly looks like Denslow, as does the vignette on the rear cover. I believe many of these titles went through several cover designs in a short period of time, and Denslow wasn't the only artist designing for the firm.

Overall, I believe it is a Denslow cover, but it's an example of how collecting can be confusing - sometimes you just have to take a chance with your own instinct!

Speedy Sketch

Here's a pencil sketch by John R. Neill for the character Gureeda, from Speedy in Oz. This drawing looks like it was cut from a page of sketches - it's now been mounted on a larger backing.

An unusual feature is Neill's bold signature across the bottom of the picture; he didn't tend to sign his sketches, or even many of his finished Oz drawings at this time. My theory is that this was sent to an Oz fan who asked for an autograph, or possibly a drawing.

The sketch doesn't match up to any finished drawings of the character in the book.

Del Rey Ojo

The Del Rey cover for Ojo in Oz, by Michael Herring, is a lovely study in blues. We're obviously in the Munchkin Country, where blue is preferred. This certainly makes Snufferbux, the brown bear, stand out! The man with the twisty legs is the Elevator Man, who plays an important part in the climax of the plot.

Snufferbux is taken directly from a John R. Neill illustration of the character. However, Herring has once again created a much more finished scene as well as adding his own touch to X. Pando, the Elevator Man.












At 18" by 24", this cover painting is a little smaller than most of the previous Ruth Plumly Thompson covers. In the cropping of the printed version, Ojo almost doesn't make it onto the cover!

Ojo And Speedy

Here are two more titles by Ruth Plumly Thompson, Ojo in Oz from 1933 and Speedy in Oz from 1934.
Ojo fills in the back story of a character first introduced by L. Frank Baum in 1913, in The Patchwork Girl of Oz, while Speedy continues the adventures of one of Thompson's boy heroes.

In Ojo, Thompson is working hard to fill in gaps of Ozian history left by Baum. Several of her books serve this purpose, some more successfully than others. This book takes an underused character and gives him some new adventures, which is always fun.








I like John R. Neill's endpaper illustrations, featuring some very fanciful gypsy caravans, and I also think the color plates in this book are particularly nice.

With Speedy, Thompson is writing almost entirely for her own original characters, and stays away from Oz for much of the book - most of the story takes place in the air. The Emerald City and traditional characters don't appear until the final two chapters. I do think Terrybubble, the living dinosaur skeleton, is a worthy addition to the Oz inhabitants!

Wonderful Game of Oz

I've been gradually piecing together a set of The Wonderful Game of Oz. This was first sold by Parker Brothers in 1921, and continued to be available for a number of years after that. I came across the game board and box first, then found a boxed set of dice and playing pieces - these are the later version made of turned wood, rather than the original pewter figures. I have come up with one of the pewter pieces, a Cowardly Lion...now I just have to find a Dorothy, Scarecrow and Tin Woodman!

I coaxed a few friends into trying the game, and have to admit it's not one of the more exciting board games I've ever played! But the game board is really attractive - it's easy to see how it would appeal to younger kids familiar with the Oz stories.

Neill Newspaper Art

Here are a few examples of work done by John R. Neill and published in the Philadelphia North American newspaper, in March of 1905. Neill did illustration work for this paper over a number of years. His most memorable pieces are probably the Little Journeys of Nip & Tuck comic page from 1909-1910. He also drew another comic titled Life Among the Macaronis - I've never seen this last one, but I imagine it would contain the same fanciful streak. In 1905 he provided illustrations for a serialized version of The Fate of a Crown, one of L. Frank Baum's pseudonymous novels.

I believe most of the work he did was in the magazine section, (not a separate publication but a section of the paper) for articles covering a wide range of topics. He also illustrated stories, some in a style that brings his early Oz illustrations to mind.

I won't be posting for the next few days, but will return sometime next week!

Denslow Titles

W. W. Denslow illustrated several children's novels, after breaking away from L. Frank Baum. I've already mentioned The Pearl and the Pumpkin in an earlier post - two other major titles are Billy Bounce, and The Jeweled Toad. All of these books suffer from being written with the intention of being turned into stage musicals. While Denslow's artwork helps to liven up the books, it can't overcome the story flaws.

Billy Bounce was originally a comic strip created by Denslow in 1901. He drew the character for about a year, before it was taken over by another artist, C. W. Kahles. This comic inspired two different pinback buttons, as well as a brand of cigars! Denslow returned to the character and wrote this book in 1906, the year the comic ended. All the artwork for this book survives, one of the unusual cases of a complete suite of drawings being kept together.

Del Rey Purple Prince

For the Del Rey edition of The Purple Prince of Oz, Michael Herring provided an image of Kabumpo, Jinnicky and Randy sliding down a rainbow crossing the Deadly Desert into Oz. This incident was written well before the MGM film and hit song Over the Rainbow.

Here we have another wonderful pink sky, and a very apprehensive Kabumpo. As the travelers are heading into the Winkie Country of Oz, where everything is yellow, I'd expect a more golden sky - but the pink is very effective.

John R. Neill also illustrated this scene, from a different angle. I think I prefer his rainbow, as it looks a bit more subtle in terms of color.

The image on the book cover is cropped, as always. In this case, I think it loses the sense of space and traveling through the air. Ruth Plumly Thompson did like to send her characters flying!

Denslow Thank You

Here's something that falls under the heading of' "How about that!"

About two weeks ago, some clients stopped in at the studio and made a purchase. While they were shopping, we talked about W. W. Denslow a bit, as they were buying a sea horse door-knocker. They were familiar with Denslow's work, particularly his Mother Goose, and we had a nice chat. To my surprise, an ingenious thank you note arrived from them in the mail this week!

The note is made from a pocket that would be used in the back of a library book, and the slip that would be used for checking out the book. The slip fits in the pocket, and a note is written on the plain side. I was very impressed by the trouble taken to create such a very appropriate thank you note!

The Purple Prince in Oz

I've always enjoyed The Purple Prince of Oz, Ruth Plumly Thompson's Oz book for 1933. This story doesn't bring anyone into Oz from America, but works with characters already there. Both Kabumpo, the Elegant Elephant, and Jinnicky, the Red Jinn are involved in the story - so it's no wonder I like it.





The endpapers feature a spread of John R. Neill's drawings of Jinnicky - here you can see how much his concept of the character changed since Jack Pumpkinhead in Oz.

I also really like the dust jacket for this book, because of the chartreuse spine. It's such a great color, and combined with the purple type, stands out on the shelf as a very Ozzy adventure.

Animal Fairy Tales

L. Frank Baum's Animal Fairy Tales was another series of short stories, originally published in The Delineator magazine, in 1905. These stories dealt with the animal kingdom, and the fairy legends of the animals.

These stories were not collected in book form until 1969, when they were published by The International Wizard of Oz Club, with illustrations by Dick Martin.

A later edition was published by Books of Wonder, using facsimiles of the original magazine pages with illustrations by Charles Livingston Bull. I've seen many pieces of Bull artwork offered over the years, but haven't run across anything from this series - I'd be curious to know whether any of these drawings survive.

In 1953, Reilly & Lee published Jaglon and the Tiger Fairies, a re-written version of one of the stories, as a book with illustrations by Dale Ulrey. One of these days, I'll have to get a copy of that!