Martin Gardner

Noted author and scholar Martin Gardner passed away this past week at the age of 95. I first came across him when I was about 10 years old, as the author of The Annotated Alice (which was originally published in 1960 - the year I was born). I later learned of his Oz scholarship, including the fact that he was a founding member of The International Wizard of Oz Club, as well as the author of a variety of articles and essays on Oz topics.

In 1955 he wrote a two-part article on L. Frank Baum, published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, which helped bring national attention to Oz at a time when the books were being banned in many libraries across the country. He worked with Russell B. Nye to produce the first book length academic study of Oz, The Wizard of Oz and Who He Was. He even published his own Oz book, Visitors From Oz, in 1998.

Michael Hearn sent me this tribute, which was written for the Scientific American website. I'm posting it here with his permission:

MARTIN GARDNER

(1914 - 2010)


Martin Gardner was my literary godfather. He was the most generous man I have ever known. I owe him everything. When I was only 20, he convinced Clarkson N. Potter to contract my book The Annotated Wizard of Oz as a successor to his own superb and now classic The Annotated Alice. He was always recommending me to editors he knew even up to last year. We often exchanged articles before publication to get the other's thoughts on the subject. Mine benefited inestimably from his input. While he could so adroitly explain the most complex concepts to layman and expert alike, he retained the curiosity and the heart of a child. His integrity was impeccable, his prose lucid and profound.
His influence was vast. Few realize that an article he wrote on L. Frank Baum and the Oz Books in The New York Times Book Review inspired the Broadway musical The Wiz. Who else was quoted by John Fowles in The French Lieutenant's Woman and named by Nabokov a character in Ada or Ardor? Of course it was his sister Judy, not Martin, who told me that. He was the gentlest and most modest of men. A true gentleman. Like everyone who had the honor of knowing him, I feel blessed to have been his friend and he mine. I will miss him terribly.--Michael Patrick Hearn

Recent Purchases

I've been working for a long time on collecting a set of Reilly & Britton Oz titles in dustjackets, and I'm slowly closing in in my goal. The past few months have been surprisingly fruitful in terms of turning up Oz items, and I've managed to add 2 first state dustjacket copies to my collection - not something that happens every day!

Reilly & Britton dustjackets can be pretty rough when they turn up, but let's face it, these things just don't turn up that often. I've been looking for a jacketed R&B Rinkitink for quite some time, and am very pleased to have found a copy that I could add to the collection. This turned up at a smaller book fair I attended when I was in New York. I found my copy of Tin Woodman on the internet. In both cases, the cover design is repeated on the rear panel, a blurb for the story is on the front flap and ads for other Reilly & Britton books are on the rear flap.

As I've said before, it does pay to get out and look at book dealers and antique shops rather than just limiting yourself to what turns up online. Some of the R&B jackets I have are later states, but I'm hopeful of eventually getting Reilly & Britton jackets on all the Reilly & Britton books - even if they aren't all first states!

Happy Birthday!

In honor of L. Frank Baum's birthday, here's a photo of the local poppy field. Actually, it's part of a neighbor's yard a couple blocks away - every spring a mass of poppies bloom throughout the yard, and then are cut down for the grass to overtake. They've just started to burst and I thought it made an appropriate birthday greeting. So far there's no record of any neighborhood children or animals falling asleep in the flowers!

Odds & Ends

Here's a couple items I've recently run across. While in New York, I wandered through Fishs Eddy, a fun shop that carries a variety of dishes and housewares. Among other things, they offer a set of Oz drinking glasses featuring W. W. Denslow images of the famous four. Of course I picked up a set - though I think it's unfortunate that they didn't pick a better image of Dorothy! Some very fun dishes relating to Alice in Wonderland are also available.

Friends occasionally run across Oz-related items and pass them on to me - for example, this set of glittery ruby slipper soap. Perhaps they produce Glinda bubbles? It just shows how embedded the Oz imagery is, particularly the MGM movie.

Polychrome

This illustration from The Road to Oz (1909), of Polychrome being drawn back up to the rainbow by her father, is one of my favorite John R. Neill drawings. It combines all the elements I like in his work, a sense of the fantastic with beautiful line work and lovely imagery. This is a drawing I'd love to own, as it would be a highlight in any Neill collection!

Polychrome's second appearance is in Sky Island, part of L. Frank Baum's attempt to break away from the Oz series. Her entrance in this book is featured in another lovely Neill drawing, this time a double page spread. It's an elaborate drawing, but not as finely detailed as the earlier piece. Many of the same elements seen in the earlier illustration are here, but the image just doesn't feel as powerful. I think this is because the elements are more decorative, rather than involved in the drama of the moment. Of course, I wouldn't say no to this drawing - once again, it's a lovely example of work by Neill!

There are two more drawings by Neill of Polychrome returning to her rainbow. The first is in Tik-Tok of Oz. This time she is shown being unceremoniously pulled up by the disembodied arms of some of her sisters, rather than carefully gathered. And in Tin Woodman of Oz, she is pictured rising without the aid of anyone - perhaps by this time her father figured she had wandered away so many times, she was on her own for getting back home!

Some Reading

I've just finished reading a copy of The Tapestry Room, written by the British author Mrs. Molesworth in 1879, and ran across an interesting passage. The child protagonists are traveling down a river in an enchanted land, and they come to a narrow passage that they are unable to get through. After whistling 3 times, an army of frogs appears, each with a length of thread that they tie to the boat and then use to pull the boat through the passage.

I couldn't help comparing this to the rescue of the Cowardly Lion by the field mice in the poppy field, in The Wondeful Wizard of Oz - in fact, with apologies to W. W. Denslow, I conjured up an image showing this as an alternative rescue force!
Back over Christmas, I read A. S. Byatt's most recent novel, called The Children's Book. There was an interesting, if fleeting, reference to The Wizard of Oz in this story. The overall book is a sprawling story, difficult to summarize - but the point I'm referring to occurs in 1904. One of the main characters is a prominent British children's author, who is writing a play for a summer arts camp. In discussions with a German puppeteer, we have the following:

"There is something in my mind. A search for a real house in a magic world. A search for a magic house in a real world. Two worlds, inside each other."
"The Wizard of Oz," said Steyning.
"Humphry says that is an allegory about Bimetallism and the Gold Standard, with its road of gold ingots and its silver shoes."
"It has a little wizard in a huge machine," said Stern. "Which is good for marionettes or other puppets."

In the end, the play does include three adversaries - a strawman, a metal man and a beast.

I found all this interesting because the British edition of The Wizard of Oz wasn't published until 1906 - 2 years after this conversation is supposed to take place. It struck me as odd that the story would apparently be so well known among a handful of characters of various nationalities - and then of course, the theory of political allegory is thrown in for good measure. It felt out of place in the general story, but it does show how Oz can pop up anywhere - even the most unlikely places!

The Road to Oz

I've mentioned in the past that one of the things I'd love to have is a piece of original John R. Neill artwork from The Road to Oz. This title contains some of Neill's most fanciful drawings - though I do think many of the drawings in Dorothy and the Wizard and Emerald City are equally ornate. Since there were no color plates in The Road to Oz, Neill had an excellent opportunity to show his skill with full page pen & ink illustrations.

Surprisingly, the opportunity arose recently and I now have the original art for the half-title page from this book. It features one of Neill's elfish little men, possibly a Crooked Knook, this one clutching some root vegetables and pointing the way, with the book title beneath the image. It's certainly not the most elaborate of the Road drawings, but I do like that it seems to tell it's own little story!

In the book, the picture was printed with the same border that was used on many of the full page illustrations. There is no border to this drawing, but there is a note in the left bottom corner instructing the printer to add the border. I always enjoy running across production details like that.

New York

I've just returned from a short trip to NYC for the New York Antiquarian Book Fair. It's always fun to get out to see some shows, and catch up with friends in the area, although there never seems to be enough time to do everything!

One of my stops was the MOMA exhibition of Tim Burton's work - lots of drawings and sketches, as well as movie costumes, props and puppets. Of Oz interest were two sketches relating to the abandoned Lost in Oz project - the images I'm showing are from the MOMA website, and very small. They are a Winged Monkey, and a character named Dick Tater - a many-eyed potato on a throne. John R. Neill created a character named Dick Tater for The Scalawagons of Oz. I don't know if Burton was referring to this specific character, or had come up with his own idea - the concept was certainly the same!

As an Ozzy coincidence, one day for lunch I ended up at a small restaurant called Le Singe Vert - or The Green Monkey - very appropriate as a Tin Woodman of Oz reference!

Happy Easter!

In honor of Easter, I'm showing a well aged chocolate bunny who has been living in my freezer for nearly 25 years. It was never intended that he should last this long, but sometimes these things happen!

I bought him in Rochester NY, where a sister of mine was living at the time, but for some reason he didn't get eaten that first year. After that, it became a matter of curiosity to see how long he might last, and he has lived up to the challenge beyond any expectations - even surviving a fall off a table, and a mild dog attack. Of course one of these years he might not make it back to the freezer.

The Easter Bunny does make an appearance in the last of the Oz books published by Reilly & Lee, in 1963. In Merry Go Round in Oz, Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion visit the Easter Bunny and his workshop during preparations for an Easter party in the Emerald City. It's a shame John R. Neill didn't get to illustrate this episode, as he had such a way with rabbits! Still, Dick Martin came up with appropriately festive bunnies. Incidentally, there's quite a resemblance between Martin's endpaper design for Merry Go Round, and Neill's design for The Yellow Knight of Oz!

Alaska

Yet another Rand McNally title with a cover by W. W. Denslow....

This is Alaska, written by A. P. Swineford, who was Governor of the District of Alaska from 1885 to 1889. The book is from 1898, and features a Denslow landscape across the cover and spine, as well as a Russian crest on the rear cover, and what I believe is an American eagle on the front. There is a totem on the spine, and Denslow's seahorse signature is above the author's name on the front cover.

This was written not long after the discovery of gold in the Klondike region, but Swineford states in his introduction that he is purposely avoiding reporting on that subject, as the daily press is a better resource for information!

A fun feature of the book is a large map which is folded and attached to the rear endpaper - this does point out the areas where gold was discovered.

The landscape cover brings to mind Denslow's work on Told in the Rockies and Shifting Sands, or The Waters of Caney Fork, all of which feature extended landscape images. I like the effect of the design running across the entire book, and it gives Denslow more scope for his illustration.

Incidentally, Swineford's wife was named Psyche Flower. That conjures up an image!

More Neill Endpapers

Here are some more of John R. Neill's early color endpaper designs, used by Reilly & Britton on books by L. Frank Baum. It's a shame that the color endpapers were dropped after Tik-Tok of Oz (1914), as the bright images really do whet your appetite for the story to follow.

For John Dough and the Cherub (1906) and Ozma of Oz (1907), Neill used a similar format in his endpaper designs. Both have the same red and black stripes at top and bottom, containing the action-packed image. In the Ozma drawing, we have a typical case of Neill creating a fun image that has nothing to do with the actual story - I'd be very surprised to find the Nome King intermingling so easily with the other Oz characters! John Dough also features a scene not found in the actual story - although the idea of the Mifkits trying to exact some revenge on Para Bruin, the rubber bear, isn't too far-fetched!

There is a similar stripe again in the design for Sky Island (1912). I'm showing this paired with its companion volume, The Sea Fairies (1911). The Sea Fairies has a very different look than most of the other color endpapers by Neill. Rather than the fine pen & ink style generally seen, this drawing has the rougher appearance of graphite or conte crayon on textured paper - a very different look, but one that Neill used frequently in other artwork.

Another unusual combination is seen in the original endpapers for The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904). Neill's drawing was combined with a photo of Fred Stone and David Montgomery in their respective roles as the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman from the stage production of The Wizard of Oz. As this second Oz title was written with both eyes on the stage possibilities, this seems like an appropriate tie-in. But contemporary readers might be a little confused - it's not Ray Bolger and Jack Haley!

Winter Baum Bugle

The Winter 2009 Baum Bugle has arrived, highlighting The Road to Oz which was published in 1909, 101 years ago. Among the various articles is one by editor Scott Cummings, pointing out a number of the fun details and enigmas contained within John R. Neill's elaborate illustrations for this book. It inspired me to take another look and show an additional item I've noticed within the illustrations.

Within the chapter heading drawing shown to the right, scanned from a later printing of the book, there are a quite a few portraits of Oz characters and unidentified people/creatures.




We can see Jack Pump- kinhead, the Tin Woodman, Toto, a possible witch, and an un- identified man in the garland on the left side. On the right, the Wizard and the Scarecrow are clear, as well as a couple others who aren't as easily identified. On the two stems of greenery next to the Shaggy Man's portrait are several other faces, cleverly concealed within the berries. This kind of cleverness and attention to detail is what made me a huge fan of Neill's artwork.

Another fun detail, which is mentioned in the article, occurs in the drawing of John Dough's arrival at the Emerald City. In the branches of the tree, we can see an orchestra of birds, apparently all owls, with large and small drums, cello, and two different horns. They are accompanying another owl who is singing from a song sheet. This grouping is very reminiscent of the bunny bands Neill would draw in future projects. An example is shown below, from the collection of the Neill family.

Neill Endpapers

After posting about some of W. W. Denslow's endpaper designs, it's only fair to look at some of John R. Neill's work. One of the great things about the Oz series is the quantity of illustrations, which spill over to preliminary pages and onto the endpapers of the books. Only one Oz book was published without pictorial endpapers, The Wishing Horse of Oz from 1935.
Neill found a number of ways to incorporate the Oz logo into quite a few of his endpaper designs. The first two shown are the early ornate color endpapers seen in Dorothy and the Wizard and The Road to Oz. Oz titles through Tik-Tok of Oz all included color in the endpapers, as part of the unique features of the books.

Beneath these, we see Grampa in Oz, using the logo as a border element, and The Hungry Tiger of Oz where the Oz logo seems to have been dropped into the picture for no particular reason.

In the four examples above, Neill used simple bold images featuring the logo and characters from the stories - The Lost King of Oz, Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz, The Silver Princess in Oz and Lucky Bucky in Oz.

Below, The Cowardly Lion of Oz uses it subtly, as decoration on the lion's blanket, and The Giant Horse of Oz has one of my favorite designs - a wild game of hoops, featuring the logo in various sizes!

Whose Soul?

Whose Soul Have I Now is one of the W. W. Denslow/Rand McNally titles that has intrigued me since I first heard of it, simply from its title. As it turns out, it's a fairly obtuse book set in Hawaii and dealing with the suffering and eventual recovery of the wife of a drug-addicted, abusive husband.

However, it does have a very nice cover by Denslow. It's one of his more pictorial efforts, with a wraith-like woman drifting through the trees. It also has an interesting color scheme of lavender, yellow and olive green that is very striking.

More Endpapers

W. W. Denslow broke into full color endpaper designs with his own books. For Denslow's Mother Goose in 1901, the design is reminiscent of Dot & Tot of Merryland. Both books were published in the same year, but this time, rather than a parading toy band, we have a repeating design of geese.

In Denslow's Night Before Christmas, published the following year, the endpaper design bursts across the page in full color with an array of toys, Santa, and a Christmas tree that only Denslow could have come up with!

Of the three remaining full length children's novels illustrated by Denslow, only The Pearl and the Pumpkin from 1904 has pictorial endpapers. Here the design covers both pages but is printed in a single color, turquoise. The endpapers are also seen in two colors, orange and black, in what are generally thought of as later printings of the book, although priority is uncertain. Billy Bounce and The Jeweled Toad both have plain endpapers, which is too bad - I'd like to see what Denslow could have come up with to welcome readers into these stories.

Denslow Endpapers

In looking at a few books illustrated by W. W. Denslow, I noticed an interesting progression in endpaper design. The earliest example I have is from 1898, in A Cruise Beneath the Crescent, one of the Rand McNally titles with a Denslow designed cover. He also provided illustrations, including an endpaper drawing that runs along the left side of the front cover. This is a street scene in black & white.

The following year, 1899, Denslow illustrated Father Goose, His Book for L. Frank Baum. Here again he provided a simple endpaper design running along the left side of the cover. This time there is color added, in the tan background and the orange bill of the goose.




In 1900, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published. Here, Denslow extended his endpaper design to cover the entire left side, as opposed to a smaller strip design. But by confining the Cowardly Lion between two trees, he almost gives the same impression of a narrow illustrated strip on the left side. Once again there is a tan background to the image, although no additional color is added.

In 1901, the final Baum/Denslow title was published, Dot & Tot in Merryland. Here, Denslow has extended to fill both endpapers with his design. Three colors are used - black, with a rich brown and orange.


Finally, in 1903 Denslow provided a new endpaper design for The New Wizard of Oz, this time another double page spread in two colors, orange and green. This is a break from the tan and brown tones of his earlier designs, and feels far less regimented in the way the flowers spread across the pages. By this time, he had also started publishing some of his own picture books with more colorful endpaper illustrations.

The first endpaper design is quite detailed and a basically straightforward depiction of an eastern street scene. From there the designs become more playful, appropriately for children's books, with the final design for New Wizard being the most appealing to my mind.

In the Swim

An archive of Rand McNally titles was recently offered at auction, including many books with W. W. Denslow covers. I didn't win the auction, but I have been able to add several titles to my collection through the kindness of Cindy at Avant Garde Books - the auction winner. Consequently, here's yet another Rand McNally title with a Denslow cover, this time In The Swim by Richard Henry Savage.

In The Swim was published in 1898. This book and my copy of Lost Princess Falka both came from the collection of books mentioned above, and both bear a library label on the spine, presumably from the Rand McNally archive. "EDITORIAL" is rubber stamped inside the front cover on both copies. In comparing notes with Cindy, I am finding that there are more variations on these many covers than I expected, which is surprising considering how difficult the books can be to find.

This title is an example of Denslow's simpler shield covers, which he came up with for several books. In spite of its simplicity, the cover is stamped in both gold and silver. Most Rand McNally titles include gold stamping, but off-hand the only other title I know of to use both metallics is The Waters of Caney Fork.

In my past examples of titles by Savage, I've commented on the excessive use of exclamation marks throughout the books - practically on every sentence. Oddly enough, although this book is also written by Savage, it appears to be perfectly readable without any excessive punctuation. It is later than either of his other titles that I've mentioned - maybe the editors caught on to the problem. I'm looking forward to reading the book to learn the significance of the cow on the spine!