THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ; First Edition, First State, "B" Variant

Baum, L. Frank (Illustrated by W.W. Denslow)

Published by Geo. M. Hill Co, Chicago, IL, 1900

FIRST EDITION A lovely copy of what bibliographer Michael O. Riley wrote: ". the most beloved American fantasy because it embodies many of the hopes, dreams, and fears inherent in the American character." Second State text and pictures, Binding "C" with the following points: Endpapers: "Publisher s spine imprint printed in red in serifed type and with the o of Co placed within the C " Fixed endpapers illustrated, free endpapers blank. Front free endpapers printed in gray and black. Back fixed endpaper, printed in red and black (Colophon 13 lines, no decorative border) Text Advertisement on back of front free endpaper is not enclosed in a box The four misprints which indicate first edition, first state have all been corrected to read: a) p. 14, line 1: "low wail of" b) p. 81 fourth line from bottom, pieces spelled correctly c) p. 227 line 1, correctly reads "While The Woodman" 24 full-color inserts all present. Verso of title page plate bears copyright notice, dated 1899, shows unevenly inked type. Plate facing p. 34 the forehead of the moon shows two dark-blue blots (fig. 6) Plate facing 92 does not show red shading over the horizon. Rebacked spine, with original spine laid down. This copy very bright -- only scattered light shading, more to spine and rear board, but far better than is usually seen. Minimal rubbing to extremities, corners only nudged, Still tightly bound, Pages supple. The 24 color inserts are remarkably bright and unblemished. Unaccountably too lightly used for a book once owned and repeatedly devoured by CHILDREN! Innovative Book Design; Radically New in Publishing ".In addition to the story's extraordinary status as an American myth, the first edition of the book itself is of exceptional importance to the history of American children's book design and publishing. Nothing like it had been seen before: its innovative design literally changed the look of books for children. And more than one hundred and twenty years after its publication.is still an influence on children's book design. But it is a sad truth that books children truly love and read repeatedly are among the most difficult books to find in collectable condition. These are books that are often literally loved to death, or at least into decrepitude and trade books tend not to be constructed to withstand such devotion.The Holy Grail for a collector would be one of the earliest assembled copies in pristine condition in a complete dust jacket. No such copy has yet been found, and it may not exist." IMPORTANT NOTE (and more than most people might want to know or read about how the color pictures were actually placed in this book!): Michael O. Riley's (2023) book, entitled and entirely devoted to: "The First Edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: A New Bibliographic Description" describes that the production of this particular book "combined three separately produced elements: the text with its two-color illustrations, the tipped-in color plates, and the binding cases. Of these, the binding cases (covers) were the only component made in-house… Riley then goes on to explain that due to the equipment -- The Sheridan flat stock cutters, "this method would result in twenty-four separate piles of the twenty-four different plates.It was therefore unlikely that any one copy of the book ended up with all its plates originating from the same printed sheet. And when new printings of the plates came into the bindery and were cut up and added to these piles, plates from recent and not-so-recent printings ended up, willy-nilly, in the same volume.the text sheets were folded into sections (also referred to as 'gatherings' by machine, then the twenty-four color plates would be attached ('tipped') to their correct positions within the individual gatherings. This process was done by hand; labor was cheap, especially for reptitive, unskilled work such as this." Bienvenue and Schmidt (The Book Collector s Guide to L. Frank Baum and Oz, March Hare B. Seller Inventory # 100333

Bibliographic Details

Title: THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ; First Edition, ...
Publisher: Geo. M. Hill Co, Chicago, IL
Publication Date: 1900
Binding: Hardcover
Illustrator: W.W. Denslow
Condition: Good Only
Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
Edition: First Edition.