Tag: w w denslow

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W W Denslow’s Young Imagination: Fantasy Trade Cards

W W Denslow showed an impressive imagination early in life, as evidenced by these circa 1883 trade cards featuring children with strange creatures. This fantasy set of four includes a boy bursting through a bubble landing on a frog, children riding a peculiar sea creature and a wasp, and a boy battling a giant bee.W W Denslow fantasy trade cards baker and hayes

Two of these cards were known to be by Denslow as they were found in his personal scrapbook, and the other two were more recently discovered. All four advertising cards have been seen with the overlapping B&H mark of Baker & Hayes. Denslow is known to have worked for this Philadelphia firm, and this mark is used on other known Denslow cards, such as those with the child gods Pluto, Folly, Bacchus, Venus, and Minerva. These “strange creature” cards carry advertisements for various businesses on either the front or back.

Discoveries like these are why I so love to collect Denslow. The adventure never ends. His art was diverse and prolific, so there’s always something new and interesting just around the corner. So keep an eye out for that elusive B&H mark! For more info, see pp. 48-50 of the Spring 2015 Baum Bugle.

Click here to visit other interesting Denslow advertising items. You might also want to check out other interesting books and ephemera related to Wizard of Oz and Roycroft under New Listings. And don’t forget the ever-expanding Sale Items!

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New Wizard of Oz Book Category: “Wild and Homeless” Books

Oz-Man Tales The Yellow Hen, Ozma and the Little Wizard (sold), Denslow’s ABC Book, and Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz 1st Edition/2nd Printing

New: Wild & Homeless Books

“Second hand books are wild books, homeless books; they have come together in vast flocks of variegated feather, and have a charm which the domesticated volumes of the library lack.”

This fabulous quote by Virginia Woolf inspired me to create a new category at Wonderful Books of Oz: Wild & Homeless Books. These Oziana items have special qualities, like being early, rare, or having fabulous illustrations, but they have more than the usual faults–their previous owner may have been a wild child! Now they’re priced nicely and are only looking for a good, non-judgmental home. Some examples of the types of books included are shown in the photo.

You can find my Wild & Homeless books here. Some available at the time listed below. Have fun!

Vintage TIN WOODMAN OF OZ Book 12 Color Plates L Frank Baum John R Neill 1923

1927 Reilly & Lee Original LAND OF OZ Coloring Contest Wizard of Oz MAP

DOROTHY and THE WIZARD IN OZ Baum 1st Edn/2nd Print L Frank Baum 1911 Fair

W W Denslow FAIRBANKS HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 1916 Fairy Soap Advertising Booklet

SCALAWAGONS OF Oz w/ Dust Jacket John R Neill Reilly & Lee Wizard of Oz Book

DENSLOW’S A B C Book ABC Dillingham Picture Book 1st Edn 1903 Wizard of Oz ANNABEL Book L Frank Baum (Suzanne Metcalf) 1912 Reading Copy

Wizard of Oz Stageplay Fred Stone “Putting the Scarecrow Together” Original Postcard 1906

DENSLOW’S Scarecrow and the Tin-man Wizard of Oz Illustrator Denslow Book

Sale: OZ-MAN TALES: THE YELLOW HEN L Frank Baum John R Neill Oz Book 1920 Fair

WIZARD OF OZ Redbook’s Picture of the Month MGM Movie Article Sept 1939

OZMA & the LITTLE WIZARD Wizard of Oz Jell-O Jello 1932 L Frank Baum Book

GOOD HOUSEKEEPING 1939 MGM Wizard of Oz Interview Leroy, Fleming, Judy Magazine
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The White City or The Emerald City? The 1893 Columbian Exposition and The Wizard of Oz

The 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago was sometimes called “The White City” and is said to have inspired the Emerald City of Oz in the 1899 collaboration between L Frank Baum and W W Denslow. Denslow left San Francisco to document the Chicago fair for local newspapers, and visited it frequently. Baum also moved to Chicago in anticipation of the Expo and certainly visited as well. Indeed, the domes of the White City, shown below, do bear a strong resemblance to components of Denslow’s Emerald City in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Emerald City of Oz White City of 1893 Denslow
The temporary buildings were mostly destroyed after the Expo, and Denslow had vanity photos taken of himself in the ruins. They were published in the Inland Printer in 1895. Thanks to Peter Hanff for the image below of a sporty Denslow lounging. 1893 Chicago Expo White City Denslow Inland Printer 1895

This wasn’t the last connection between W W Denslow and the 1893 Expo. He revisited it almost 20 years later, in one of the scenes in Fairbank’s Juvenile History of the United States, a 1911 advertising booklet for Fairy soap!Fairbank's Juvenile History of the United States Denslow 1893 Expo

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Special W W Denslow Issue of the Baum Bugle!

Artist W W Denslow. Note “Roycroft” carved into the cabinet to his left.

Oct 2015 Update: The Denslow Bugle issue is out; it’s beautiful, and I have a limited number of extra copies available for $15 plus shipping. You can purchase it here.   It is no longer available with Club membership as when I wrote the blog, below.

Are you a member of the International Wizard of Oz Club? I hope so, because if so, you’ll receive the special W. W. Denslow issue of the Baum Bugle magazine due out shortly! Denslow was co-creator of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz book with L Frank Baum, and he’s my favorite real-life Oz character. So I’m helping Bugle editor Craig Noble create and edit this special issue, on the 100-year anniversary of Denslow’s death in 1915.

While Denslow only illustrated a few of Baum’s books, he was a hugely prolific artist. This special issue will include two articles that I’ve written on Denslow and the Roycrofters (including a Roycroft checklist), and also will describe some newly discovered trade cards drawn by Denslow. Others will write about how Denslow’s artistic style developed, his Billy Bounce comic strip, his postcards, his personal archive, Denslow Island, and more. You’ll even get a peek at Oz Club members who proudly wear Denslow hippocampus tattoos!

To make sure you get this Ozsome issue (which will have some color pages for better display of Den’s art), make sure you join the Oz Club soon, here! It’s only $25 per year and will bring you together with a great group of people who foster Oz education and activities. Plus, you get the Bugle and 20% off books published by the Club.

Are you a Denslow fan already? Some of us would like to sponsor a memorial Denslow stone on the “Appian Way” walkway at the Roycroft campus in East Aurora, New York. If we get enough contributions, we can get a larger stone and have it engraved with his hippocampus symbol! Denslow deserves this recognition at the place where he contributed so much to the success of Roycrofters’ hand-crafted books. If you’d like to contribute, please contact me here.   Photos and description by Wonderful Books of Oz, copyright protected through the DMCA act of 1998.

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In Memoriam: Artisans of Oz and Roycroft

Denslow Soldier with Green Whiskers
 Soldier with Green Whiskers
Art by W W Denslow

In Memoriam

      Let’s take a moment to thank those artisans who brought us the wonder of Oz and the beauty of Roycroft:

Lotta Faust (d. 1910)
W W Denslow (d. 1915)
Elbert & Alice Hubbard (d. 1915)
L Frank Baum (d. 1919)
John R Neill (d. 1943)
Alexis Fournier (d. 1948)
Jack Snow (d. 1956)
Fred Stone (d. 1959)
Dard Hunter (d. 1966)
Judy Garland (d. 1969)
Ruth Plumly Thompson (d. 1976)
Dick Martin (d. 1990)
Rob Roy MacVeigh (d. 1992)
Eloise McGraw (d. 2000)
Leonid Vladimirsky (d. 2015)
Photos and description by Wonderful Books of Oz, copyright protected through the DMCA act of 1998. Please contact me for permission to use photos or text.
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W W Denslow Special Issue of the Baum Bugle is Coming!

Artist W W Denslow. Note “Roycroft” carved into the cabinet to his left.

Are you a member of the International Wizard of Oz Club? I hope so, because if so, you’ll receive the special W. W. Denslow issue of the Baum Bugle magazine due out in June! Denslow was co-creator of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz book with L Frank Baum, and he’s my favorite real-life Oz character. So I’m helping Bugle editor Craig Noble create and edit this special issue, on the 100-year anniversary of Denslow’s death in 1915.

While Denslow only illustrated a few of Baum’s books, he was a hugely prolific artist. This special issue will include two articles that I’ve written on Denslow and the Roycrofters (including a checklist), and also will describe some newly discovered trade cards drawn by Denslow. Others will write about how Denslow’s artistic style developed, his Billy Bounce comic strip, his postcards, his personal archive, Denslow Island, and more. You’ll even get a peek at Oz Club members who proudly wear Denslow hippocampus tattoos!

To make sure you get this Ozsome issue (which will have some color pages for better display of Den’s art), make sure you join the Oz Club soon, here! It’s only $25 per year and will bring you together with a great group of people who foster Oz education and activities. Plus, you get the Bugle and 20% off books published by the Club.

Are you a Denslow fan already? Some of us are planning to sponsor a memorial Denslow stone on the “Appian Way” walkway at the Roycroft campus in East Aurora, New York. If we get enough contributions, we can get a larger stone and have it engraved with his hippocampus symbol! Denslow deserves this recognition at the place where he contributed so much to the success of Roycrofters’ hand-crafted books. If you’d like to contribute, please contact me here.

Don’t forget to check out Wonderful Books of Oz’ New Listings. Also, peruse the Sale items–more markdowns this month! 4/28/15

Photos and description by Wonderful Books of Oz, copyright protected through the DMCA act of 1998. Please contact me for permission to use photos or text.
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Tarot of Oz Original Art

Wizard of Oz Tarot Card Deck Original Art

Tarot of Oz Original Art 


This month I’m excited to be offering original art from the production of the new Shadow of Oz Tarot deck published by Illogical Associates. Ten different pieces of Oz-themed concept art by Giles Crawford are available; I’ll even mat and frame then for you! Each piece is associated with a specific tarot card, is rendered in gorgeous watercolor, and hand signed by Giles.In addition to the Button Bright and Poppy Field work shown, we have the Good Witch of the North, Jelia Jamb, Queen Ann, the Love Magnet, the Wizard, Glinda and more. Don’t miss the opportunity to choose art based on your favorite character! Each one of a kind, and no more will be available once these are gone. Also, order the tarot deck itself here. Don’t forget to check out this month’s New Listings –some rare items this month, including the 1961 Dick Martin Wizard (sold) and lots of Denslow items. Also, check out the Sale items–more marked down this month! 4/14/2015

Photos and description by Wonderful Books of Oz, copyright protected through the DMCA act of 1998. Please contact me for permission to use photos or text.