Description
This is the fifth book in the Mary Louise series, Mary Louise Adopts a Soldier, copyright 1919 by Reilly & Lee and the last one written by L Frank Baum. 1st edition, with light blue cloth cover stamped in dark blue and the original 1st printing of the dust jacket! Five titles listed on the rear flap, as discussed in the Book Collector’s Guide to L Frank Baum. In 1916 Baum started a new “Bluebird” book series under the pseudonym Edith Van Dyne. “Van Dyne” was already popular as author of the Aunt Jane’s Nieces series books. Baum wrote several books in this new series before he died, starting with “Mary Louise” (the name of his favorite sister).
Book is in good plus condition–cover nice and clean but with a little staining at base of spine. Inside, the hinges are unbroken and frontis intact but with some water staining to border of frontis and title page as shown. Pages are otherwise clean. The dust jacket is near very good–complete with slight loss and some staining at base of spine. (Darker area on front of jacket in first photo is a shadow on the protective archival cover). The Mary Louise series books are much harder to find in jacket than those in the Aunt Jane’s Nieces series.
