The Wishing Horse of Oz

The Wishing Horse of Oz, Copyright 1935 by The Reilly & Lee Company, 9.25" x 7" (8vo), 298 pp. First edition, earliest state. Color plates and black-and-white illustrations throughout. Dark blue cloth with pictorial cover paste down.

This is another listings from "Nana's Top Shelf," a collection of first editions and other fine volumes collected over a lifetime from estate sales and booksellers across the East Coast and Europe. We are now listing books from our early-edition L. Frank Baum, Wizard of Oz collection. All of these books are in outstanding condition and suitable for selective collectors or as investment-grade books. This 1st Edition of Wishing Horse is one of the rarest in the Oz series.

Condition: Very Good. Interior pages and plates are bright and clean. Binding is tight. Owner's inscription ("This book belongs to Doug Robertson ...") and ownership label inside front cover. Light shelf wear; gently bumped corners. ~1" long scuff to lower right of cover (see photo). Overall very nice condition, but we disclose all issues.

About the Book: "The Wishing Horse of Oz (1935) is the twenty-ninth in the series of Oz books created by L. Frank Baum and his successors, and the fifteenth written by Ruth Plumly Thompson. It was Illustrated by John R. Neill. This book marked the point at which Thompson had written more Oz books than Baum himself. This Oz mystery starts in the small, poor kingdom of Skampavia, where King Skamperoo wishes for a horse using enchanted emerald necklaces... This was the last Oz book to feature illustrations in color, and only the first edition and the International Wizard of Oz Club edition (1990) have them" (from Wikipedia)

About the Authors: "Lyman Frank Baum (1856-1919) was an American author best known for his children's books, particularly The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its sequels. He wrote 14 novels in the Oz series, plus 41 other novels (not including four lost, unpublished novels), 83 short stories, over 200 poems, and at least 42 scripts. He made numerous attempts to bring his works to the stage and screen; the 1939 adaptation of the first Oz book became a landmark of 20th-century cinema. Born and raised in upstate New York, Baum moved west after an unsuccessful stint as a theater producer and playwright. He and his wife opened a store in South Dakota and he edited and published a newspaper. They then moved to Chicago, where he worked as a newspaper reporter and published children's literature, coming out with the first Oz book in 1900... to much critical acclaim and financial success. The book was the best-selling children's book for two years after its initial publication. Baum went on to write thirteen more novels based on the places and people of the Land of Oz."

"Ruth Plumly Thompson (1891-1976): An avid reader of Baum's books and a lifelong children's writer, Thompson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She had already published her first children's book, The Perhappsy Chaps, and her second, The Princess of Cozytown, was pending publication when William Lee, vice president of Baum's publisher Reilly & Lee, solicited Thompson to continue the Oz series. Between 1921 and 1939, she wrote one Oz book a year. Thompson's contributions to the Oz series are lively and imaginative, featuring a wide range of colorful and unusual characters. She emphasized humor to a greater extent than Baum did and more specifically targeted children as her primary audience." (from Wikipedia)

About the Illustrator: "John Rea Neill ( 1877-1943) was a magazine and children's book illustrator primarily known for illustrating more than forty stories set in the Land of Oz, including L. Frank Baum's, Ruth Plumly Thompson's, and three of his own. Originally, Neill's illustrations were slightly reminiscent of Denslow's to bring continuity and familiarity to the characters. However, as the series expanded, Neill brought his own unique flair to the illustrations, showing more artistic representations of the characters as well as beautiful paintings of numerous scenes. In fact, he was later named the Imperial Illustrator of Oz." (from Wikipedia)

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Who are we: This is another listings from "Nana's Top Shelf," a collection of first editions and other fine volumes collected over a lifetime from estate sales and booksellers across the East Coast and Europe. The collection specializes in late 19th and early 20th century illustrated children's books, fairy tales and folklore.