Completing a Facsimile

Here's a piece I picked up on eBay recently. This is a facsimile dust jacket created by John Anthony Miller, for the first edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Very few examples of the original jacket have survived the years, and I'm not certain if a complete original jacket is known. The chances of my ever owning one are quite slim; so this will have to do!


It fits perfectly on the recent facsimile of the book offered by the Bradford Exchange; it could also be used on an original George M. Hill first edition. It even works on the earlier facsimile produced by Books of Wonder - although it was just a bit wide for my copy. It's a fun touch to complete the appearance of the book!

Don't forget, the Kickstarter campaign for this year's production of The Tik-Tok Man of Oz is still running - any contribution will help to make this an even more memorable occasion. Here is a video plug for the show!

A Kick Start

There is a fascinating Kickstarter project running currently, aimed at this year's Winkie Convention in California; a production of The Tik-Tok Man of Oz is being put together for a one night only performance, with full cast, sets and costumes. It's a unique chance to see a production of a vintage musical entertainment, that isn't likely to ever be revived on a wide scale. L. Frank Baum wrote the book as well as a number of the song lyrics, and this show was the inspiration for the 1914 Oz title Tik-Tok of Oz.

The initial goal has already been reached, but this is certainly a case of the more the better, in order to be able to flesh out the show more thoroughly - after all, this is supposed to be a Fairyland Extravaganza! Here is a link to the Tik-Tok Man of Oz Kickstarter campaign; any contribution helps, and there are some nice premiums being offered at the higher pledge levels!

There are a couple other Oz-related Kickstarter projects running at the moment. The Shadow of Oz - A Tarot Deck, which ends on Monday, is a unique Tarot deck designed by a number of talented comic book artists, and Who Stole the Ruby Slippers? is a documentary on the still unsolved 2005 theft of a pair of original ruby slippers, from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, MN.