Baum, L. Frank — W. W. Denslow (ill.) | Denslow's presentation copy of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Baum, L. Frank — W. W. Denslow (ill.)

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Chicago & New York: Geo. M. Hill Co., 1900

4to (213 x 158 mm). In-text illustrations by Denslow throughout, 24 full-page color plates inserted including illustrated title; overall quite clean, with a few instances of toning and slight dampstaining to top margin, plates lightly offset onto text leaves, first plate loose and chipped at margins, laid in after p. 12 consistent with offsetting, a few closed marginal tears, illustration between p. 160–161 with primarily marginal loss at gutter, a few stray spots and old creases, lightly shaken. Original full pictorial cloth stamped in green and red, spine with sans-serif imprint in red at foot, pictorial pastedowns with free endpapers blank; cloth faintly foxed and stained, corners bumped with slight loss, spine sunned with fraying to head and foot, joints starting.

First edition of Baum's whimsical tale, in the first state of text and mixed state of plates, second state of the binding.

Presentation copy, with a rare inscription by the illustrator and his signature seahorse monogram: "To Mrs. Frank Pixley, with sincere regards of W. W. Denslow, July 16th 1901."

It is possible that "Mrs. Frank Pixley" refers to Isabel Pixley, the wife of playwright Dr. Frank S. Pixley, a fellow Chicago-based writer and contemporary of Denslow's. Indeed, Pixley, Denslow, and Baum may have interacted professionally: Pixley was the editor of the Chicago Times-Herald from 1899 to 1902, a paper for which Denslow briefly worked as an illustrator and which also published Baum's early writing.

In fact, years before their first collaboration, Denslow and Baum separately depicted the 1893 Chicago World's Fair for the Times-Herald. Some scholars have attributed the idea for Baum's alluring Emerald City to the fair's so-called "White City," a splendid imaginary metropolis built to represent the promise of America's future. Baum wrote of the White City a few years later for the Times-Herald, writing that, "The illumination in the evening was beautiful, and the sky was aglow with the gorgeous electrical designs displayed from the aerial island suspended over the exposition grounds" (19 January 1896). Denslow, it seems, also took inspiration from the White City—his illustrations of the real-life City for the Times-Herald are nearly identical to those of the Emerald City in the present volume. Denslow's iconic illustrations went on to influence the set and costume designs for stage adaptations and the beloved 1939 film, and continue to shape cultural imaginings of Oz to this day.

First state of text: misprints "low wail" on p. 14, "peices" on p. 81, and "While Tin Woodman" on p. 271, 11-line colophon to lower pastedown. Mixed state of plates: paper coating on front side only, illustrated title with verso blank, first plate facing p. 12 rather than p. 14, plate opposite p. 34 uncorrected with two blue dots to moon, but plate opposite p. 92 corrected without the red shading on the horizon. Second state of the binding: publisher's imprint at the foot of the spine printed in red sans-serif type without any over-lapping of the "C" and "O" in "CO."

Presentation copies of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz are scarce—Rare Book Hub records only four other examples inscribed by Denslow at auction since the work's publication 126 years ago.

REFERENCES

"American Oz: The True Wizard Behind the Curtain," PBS, 19 April 2021, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/american-oz/, accessed 29 April 2026; Baum, "Yesterday at the Exposition," The Chicago Times-Herald, 19 January 1896; Hanff & Greene I.1 (binding variant B)

PROVENANCE

Mrs. Frank Pixley (presentation inscription by Denslow to front free endpaper, dated 16 July 1901) — later gift inscriptions in pencil to front free endpaper