BAUM, L. Frank (1856-1919). The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Chicago: Geo. M. Hill Co., 1900. The Cowardly Lion’s copy of the first edition Wizard of Oz , first issue, with all first issue points to the text and plates and in binding variant B, with publisher's name in unserifed type in red at foot of spine, per Hanff & Greene. This first edition is accompanied by a vintage publicity photograph from the 1939 film featuring the heroes posed before an oversize book; and a provenance note from 1997 on Bert Lahr’s stationery and signed by his two children, Jane and John Lahr. We are aware of no other copies of the rare and desirable first edition which were the personal property of one of the stars of the immortal film. Lyman Frank Baum began writing 25 years before The Wizard of Oz was published, when he founded a newspaper in Bradford, Pennsylvania. After leaving the paper, "he went on to manage opera houses, act in the theater, and establish a magazine for window dressers" but the success of The Wizard of Oz "kept him writing Oz books for the rest of his life: and even beyond his life, for after he died in 1919 others were commissioned to write more books about the Wizard" (introduction, Maurice Hungiville, The Wizard of Oz and Who He Was, Gardner and Nye, eds., 1984). The 1939 landmark film adaptation was actually the third cinematic portrayal of Oz, but certainly the best-remembered. It is at the top of the list of the most beloved films of all time. The uncommon publicity photograph present here depicts Toto, Judy Garland as Dorothy, and Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Frank Morgan, and Bert Lahr as the Scarecrow, Tin Man, Wizard and Cowardly Lion respectively. Blanck, Peter Parley to Penrod, pp. 111ff; Hanff & Greene I.1; Grolier Children’s 54. Quarto (213 x 160mm). Pictorial title-page; 24 color plates, numerous text illustrations by W.W. Denslow. Original pictorial green cloth, blocked in dark green and vermillion, pictorial paste-downs as issued (cloth with minor staining and rubbing, light wear to tips, shaken, small stains to fore-edge). Letter, photograph and book displayed together in a shadow-box frame. Provenance : Lucy (Christmas gift inscription) – Bert Lahr (1895-1967, actor; accompanying note).
BAUM, L. Frank (1856-1919). The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Chicago: Geo. M. Hill Co., 1900. The Cowardly Lion’s copy of the first edition Wizard of Oz , first issue, with all first issue points to the text and plates and in binding variant B, with publisher's name in unserifed type in red at foot of spine, per Hanff & Greene. This first edition is accompanied by a vintage publicity photograph from the 1939 film featuring the heroes posed before an oversize book; and a provenance note from 1997 on Bert Lahr’s stationery and signed by his two children, Jane and John Lahr. We are aware of no other copies of the rare and desirable first edition which were the personal property of one of the stars of the immortal film. Lyman Frank Baum began writing 25 years before The Wizard of Oz was published, when he founded a newspaper in Bradford, Pennsylvania. After leaving the paper, "he went on to manage opera houses, act in the theater, and establish a magazine for window dressers" but the success of The Wizard of Oz "kept him writing Oz books for the rest of his life: and even beyond his life, for after he died in 1919 others were commissioned to write more books about the Wizard" (introduction, Maurice Hungiville, The Wizard of Oz and Who He Was, Gardner and Nye, eds., 1984). The 1939 landmark film adaptation was actually the third cinematic portrayal of Oz, but certainly the best-remembered. It is at the top of the list of the most beloved films of all time. The uncommon publicity photograph present here depicts Toto, Judy Garland as Dorothy, and Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Frank Morgan, and Bert Lahr as the Scarecrow, Tin Man, Wizard and Cowardly Lion respectively. Blanck, Peter Parley to Penrod, pp. 111ff; Hanff & Greene I.1; Grolier Children’s 54. Quarto (213 x 160mm). Pictorial title-page; 24 color plates, numerous text illustrations by W.W. Denslow. Original pictorial green cloth, blocked in dark green and vermillion, pictorial paste-downs as issued (cloth with minor staining and rubbing, light wear to tips, shaken, small stains to fore-edge). Letter, photograph and book displayed together in a shadow-box frame. Provenance : Lucy (Christmas gift inscription) – Bert Lahr (1895-1967, actor; accompanying note).
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