BEYOND THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD: THE “FAMOUS FORTY” OZ BOOKS, INCLUDING SEVERAL FIRST EDITIONS AND THE FIRST EDITION OF THE 1939 FILM EDITION OF THE WIZARD OF OZ
BAUM, L. Frank. THOMPSON, Ruth Plumly. O'NEILL, John R. SNOW, Jack. COSGROVE, Rachel R. McGRAW, Eloise Jarvis. The "Famous Forty" Oz Books. Indianapolis and Chicago: Bobbs-Merrill and Reilly & Lee, 1939, circa 1940-50, 1963. Forty volumes. Octavo, original cloth, mounted cover illustrations.
Mixed editions of the “famous forty” Oz books, begun by L. Frank Baum, including the first film edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, published to promote the 1939 MGM musical starring Judy Garland; with first editions of several later titles.
The 1939 MGM musical The Wizard of Oz immortalized L. Frank Baum's 1900 "American fairy tale." Less familiar, though no less beloved by readers who do know them, are the 13 other Oz volumes Baum wrote between 1904 and 1919, as well as the 26 further titles penned by succeeding "Royal Historians of Oz" between 1921 and 1963. These titles expanded the world of Oz well beyond the Yellow Brick Road, guaranteeing such characters as Princess Ozma, Jack Pumpkinhead, the Patchwork Girl and Tik-Tok (perhaps literature's first robot) a place in the hearts of generations of young readers. "Populous with eccentric beings whose greatest fulfillment is being themselves, rendered eternally safe from the wilderness of the world, Oz continues to represent what might be called the daydream of the matter of America. It is the dream that we will not spoil the territory through the act of discovering it. Oz can be found, by children; but it cannot be desecrated" (Clute & Grant, 740). This collection includes mostly later editions, from the 1940s and 1950s. The following titles are present in first edition: Speedy in Oz (1934), The Silver Princess in Oz (1938), Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz (1939), The Wonder City of Oz (1940), The Scalawagons of Oz (1941), Lucky Bucky in Oz (1942), The Magical Mimics in Oz (1946) and Merry Go Round in Oz (1963). The set also includes a beautiful copy of the first film edition of the first book (here titled The New Wizard of Oz, as in the 1903 third edition) and featuring eight color plates that reproduce W.W. Denslow's illustrations and inserted sepia endpapers presenting nine scenes from the MGM musical. The color dust jacket carries three movie stills on the rear panel, and its rear flap offers a brief summary of the book's history of stage and screen adaptations, culminating in the then-current Judy Garland vehicle. Without dust jackets except for The New Wizard of Oz. Bookplates. Juvenile owner signatures and pencil markings.
Inner paper hinges occasionally split. An extremely good set.