Description
Interesting book by L. Frank Baum about John Dough, a very unusual gingerbread man. This is the 1906 first edition, second printing and with the rare content entry form INTACT facing page 8. In Binding A (REILLY & BRITTON CO on spine) but with misprint “cave” on p. 275 corrected to “cave”. According to the Book Collector’s Guide to Baum (p. 228), “The earliest copies of this (2nd) printing, in Binding A, were issued with the detachable contest blank as above; later copies do not include the blank.” Difficult to find either printing of the first edition, more so with the contest blank still attached.
The topic of the contest is “Is the Cherub a boy or a girl?” Good question. The book has many weird and wonderful drawings in vivid color by John R. Neill. Rear endpapers advertise The Twinkle Tales and The Christmas Stocking Series (with the little books packaged in a miniature bookcase), The Land of Oz and the elusive Wogglebug Book.
This book is in very good condition overall, with a super clean cover, sharp spine, and nice rear cover with light corner wear. Inside, the front hinge is intact while the rear one is cracked, not too badly and could be repaired as all the paper is still present. There is a former owner’s address label on front endpaper and pencil bookseller’s notations on the first two endpapers. The rest of the text pages are in quite good shape–no tears, writing or coloring noted, with occasional light staining. The contest blank itself looks great–beautiful, crisp & clean. A collectible copy!
