Description
Offered here is The New Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, 2nd edition, 1st printing, according to The Book Collector’s Guide to L Frank Baum. A very early 1903 edition published by Bobbs Merrill, 2nd only in collectibility to the 1st edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz published 3 years earlier by George M Hill. This edition retains many of the expensive printing elements of the original Hill edition. It has 16 color plates (including title page), as well as wonderful single-color integral illustrations throughout nearly every page of the book, as originally designed by W W Denslow. Gotta love that Denslow lion! The book also has integral Denslow illustrations on the front and rear cover rather than the pastedown color cover that was implemented later, and beautiful poppy endpapers designed by Denslow for this book.
This copy in very good condition overall. The book cover and spine are in nice clean condition, while the rear cover has some light staining. Inside, the hinges are tight, though the rear hinge is starting to crack at the top. The endpapers are clean except for a 1/2″ edge tear on the front fore-edge. The text pages are quite nice overall, with no writing or tears. All 16 plates are present and in very good condition save one, which has been re-inserted and is slightly smaller. It’s difficult to find this 1st printing thus with 16, rather than 8 color plates, and especially with the full “New Wizard” name on the cover. A nice, collectible copy of one of the most famous children’s books of all time!
