L. Frank Baum

First edition, second printing of the second Oz book, and the first illustrated by J.R. Neill—who would define the iconography for the series as a team with Baum.

• L. Frank Baum (American).
• Illustrated by J.R. Neill (American).
• Chicago: Reilly & Britton, 1904.
• 287, [1] pages.
• Includes numerous full and partial-page black and white images and 16 color plates on glossy stock inserted throughout the text block.
• Bound in original red pictorial cloth titled in dark blue outlined in silver (binding B), with photo-pictorial endpapers of Montgomery and Stone.

"It's as good as The Wizard of Oz, which is the highest compliment we can pay it." —November 1904 review in the Cleveland Leader.

The second Oz book makes two supporting characters from the Wonderful Wizard of Oz into the main characters: the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman. Baum hadn't initially intended that the world he created in Oz would become the setting for an entire series, but the success of the first title—and especially its launch into fame with the theatrical adaptation—convinced Baum to create the "sequel." The choice of the Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow as the leads was indeed informed by the success of the Wizard of Oz play; the comedic actors Montgomery and Stone, who played those two characters in the theatre adaptation, were considered key to its success.

After a row with W.W. Denslow, the illustrator of the first Oz book, Baum's sequel was in need of a new collaborator. Publisher Reilly & Britton approached Neill, then only 26, for the project. The match proved so seamless that Neill would go on to illustrate every Oz book by Baum from that point onwards, as well as the sequels by Ruth Plumly Thompson, and he even wrote a few Oz books himself.

Read more: Bienvenue, The Book Collector's Guide to L. Frank Baum, 22.