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.