Description

LOVELY FIRST EDITION OF L. FRANK BAUM’S LAST OZ BOOK, GLINDA OF OZ, WITH THE RARE PROMOTIONAL MAP OF OZ, A BEAUTIFUL COPY

BAUM, L. Frank. Glinda of Oz. Chicago: Reilly & Lee, (1920). Octavo, original red cloth, mounted cover illustration, pictorial endpapers.

First edition of Baum’s 14th and final Oz book, with 12 color plates and numerous in-text illustrations by John R. Neill, and with the hard-to-find 1920 promotional map of Oz laid in. A fine, beautiful copy.

Partially written by Baum’s wife, Maud, Glinda of Oz was published after Baum died. At his death, on May 6, 1919, “he was the most celebrated children’s author of his time” (Eyles, 51). “According to family legend, he spoke his last semi-conscious words to his wife, drifting away after a quiet reference to the deadly desert one had to traverse the reach the Land of Oz: ‘Now we can cross the shifting sands?” (Fricke, 41). First edition, with 13 Oz titles including this one listed on verso of half title and the rare “Professor Wogglebug” map laid in, as issued by Reilly & Lee with all Oz volumes sold in 1920. The map has long baffled Oz enthusiasts: “Munchkin country was originally established [in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, 1900] as being in the east part of Oz, and Winkie country in the west. But the map that appeared [in 1914] as the endpapers in Tik-Tok of Oz”—the same map reproduced, with slight changes, as this 1920 promotional piece—“shows them reversed” (Eyles, 55). Red cloth binding, no priority established. Hanff & Greene, 76-77. Franklin, 33. See Douglas & David Greene 113. Plates lovely, map bright. A beautiful and fine copy, with the rare map.