THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ

Chicago: George M. Hill, 1900. Very good plus.. First edition of the book that gave Americans their own fairy tale, with all the textual points of the first state and a mixed state B/C of the plates. Although it was only one of four books Baum published in 1900, THE WIZARD OF OZ was his most ambitious as a publication: he and illustrator W.W. Denslow envisioned an elaborate production of color-printed plates to reflect the role that color plays in the story. The expense turned publishers away until Baum and Denslow took the gamble to pay for the printing costs themselves. Their instinct was right: the book quickly became the fastest selling children's book in the United States, and was soon turned into a sensation at the theater. Denslow and Baum would soon part acrimoniously over the share of the profits (Denslow purchased, no joke, an island from his); the rest of the Oz books in Baum's lifetime were illustrated by John R. Neill.

Baum has a complicated legacy: he was also a newspaperman whose opinions on Native American rights were especially pernicious. The Oz books offered a dream world for the children of Manifest Destiny, emigrating across the West. Yet over the years Dorothy's journey with her motley friends has proven fertile soil for a variety of new interpretations, including THE WIZ (1978) and WICKED (1995), demonstrating its power as a modern mythos. The original story may surprise readers, with silver shoes instead of ruby slippers, and an Emerald City that is green only because the visitors must wear colored goggles.

The book's bibliography is notoriously complicated, with more than a dozen different points, and the appearance of mixed states common. This copy contains two corrected plates, but the text entirely matches the first state. It comes from the library of Roland Baughman, a noted Baum collector, scholar, and head of Special Collections at Columbia University from 1946 until his death in 1967. His Baum collection was exhibited in 1956 at Columbia and he co-edited the accompanying exhibition catalogue with Joan Baum. This is a wonderful copy of an iconic children's book. 8.25'' x 6''. Original full green cloth stamped in red and green, "Geo. M. Hill Co." stamped in red serif typeface on spine, "o" within the "C" (state C per Riley). Illustrated pastedowns in black and grey (front) and black and red (rear). Box around publisher ads, first line on page 14 reads "low wail on" (1st state), p.81 fourth line from bottom spells "peices" incorrectly, p.[227] 1st line reads "While Tin Woodman," colophon in 11 lines with box, and all other State A points per Riley; perfect type on pages 100, 186. Color plates corrected on page 34 & 92, but copyright notice with R extending below baseline (Riley B/C). 216, [1] pages. Signature of Roland Bauman on final leaf. Housed in a custom quarter morocco clamshell box. Cloth quite fresh, with faint sunning to spine. Hinges skillfully repaired. Short closed tear to one plate, else text block clean and bright.