The Ozma of Oz considered one of the best books out of all 40 Oz titles written by L.Frank Baum and other authors based on various polls. The first Oz book that did not contain color plates published in 1907 by Reilly & Britton company. The publisher utilizes ink color illustrations that resulted in the edition that has around 40 color illustrations.
One of the color ink illustrations on page 221 end up being in black and white in slightly later editions copies around 1911. Besides, color illustrated endpapers of the first printing edition end up being blank in consequence editions.
Five different variant cover of this edition can be by early publishers Reilly & Britton and Reilly & Lee. It should be noted that Canadian publisher Copp Clark also produces an edition similar to American publishers. The early editions came with color dust jackets that can be seen in the later photos. To locate The Ozma of Oz title in an original dust jacket by Reilly & Britton from 1907 is almost impossible. For the past 20+ years collecting and trading Oz books, I never had an opportunity to obtain one.
The first edition copies from 1907 usually worth between $500 to $2500 based on condition, while slightly later edition by Reilly & Britton that were printed before 1919 worth from $200 to $1200. Editions by Reilly & Lee hat contains color ink illustrations that were printed before 1935, worth from $75 to $250 based on condition and copies in dust jackets can fetch up to $700 based on the condition of the book and a dust jacket. Post-1935 edition by Reilly & Lee contains black and white illustrations and worth from $20 to $150 based on year of publication, condition and presence of the dust jacket.
Synopsis
This adventure begins as Dorothy Gale is blown overboard in a storm at sea while enroute to Australia. With her is a yellow hen named Billina. They wash ashore in Ev, a fairyland across the Deadly Desert from Oz. Here they find a mechanical man, Tiktok, and meet Princess Ozma and her friends and the Oz Army. They join Ozma on her quest to free the Queen of Ev and her children from the underground caverns of the Nome King. The Nome King has used his Magic Belt to imprison the royal family of Ev as bric-a-brac in his underground palace. The adventure almost ends in disaster for Ozma and her friends, but Billina saves the day in a most uneggspected way. Dorothy captures the Nome King's Magic Belt, everyone is set free, and they return to the Emerald City for a big victory celebration.
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Inventory of Ozma of Oz in the store
I own a newspaper article dated from 1907 before "Ozma of Oz" book published and found interesting how a writer introduce this title to readers.
The demand of thousands of children, who became fascinated with L. Frank Baum’s delightful fairy story “The Wizard of Oz” and have been demanding ever since its publication to know “more about Dorothy” and “What became of the cowardly lion? And “What did Ozma do afterwards? Have resulted in another book, which relates further adventure of these wonderful characters.
It is called “Ozma of Oz,” and will be put upon the market within the next three weeks by the Reilly & Britton Company, of Chicago, the book publisher who control all of Mr. Baum’s writings. Although the name of the book is “Ozma of Oz,” Little Dorothy Gale is of so much importance in the marvelous story that is ought more properly to be called “Dorothy Gale in Oz land”.
In It, Mr. Baum has created some new characters which are quite as unique and remarkable as were the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion, the Scarecrow and the various other wonderful creations of the “Wizard of Oz,” and which were almost as remarkable in evidence in themselves of Mr. Baums inventive genius as were the remarkable adventures he contrived for them. Of the new characters one of the most remarkable was the Hungry Tiger. Dorothy’s first sight of him came as follows:
A broad green carpet was unrolling itself upon the desert and advancing across it was a wonderful procession that made the girl open her eyes in amazement. First came a magnificent golden chariot, drawn by a great lion and an immense tiger who stood shoulder to shoulder and trotted along as gracefully as a well-matched team of thoroughbred horses. And standing upright within the chariot was a beautiful girl clothed in flowing robes of silver gauze, and wearing a jeweled diadem upon her dainty head. She held in one hand the satin ribbons that guided her astonishing team, and in the other an ivory wand that separated at the top into two prongs, the prongs being tipped by the letters ‘O,’ and ‘Z.’ made of glistering diamonds set closely together.
This was the Princess Ozma, Dorothy’s old friend and behind came all the wonderful playmates she had had in the Land of Oz. The Tiger was just then Yawning so that he displayed two rows of terrible teeth and a mouth big enough to startle any one. He complained of being hungry and Dorothy asked him why he didn’t eat something.
“It’s no use,” said the Tiger sadly, ”I’ve tried that, but always got hungry again.”
“Why, it’s the same with me.” Said Dorothy; “yet I keep on eating.”
“But you eat harmless things, so it doesn’t matter,” replied the Tiger. “For my part, I for all sorts of poor little living creatures. From a chipmunk to fat babies.”
“How dreadful,” said Dorothy.
“Isn’t it, though,” returned the hungry Tiger, licking his lips with his long red tongue. “Fat babies! Don’t they sound delicious? But I’ve never eaten any, because my conscience tells me it is wrong. If I had no conscience, I would probably eat the babies and then get hungry again, which would mean I had sacrificed the poor babies for nothing. No; hungry I was born and hungry I shall die. But I will have no cruel deeds on my conscience to be sorry for.”
Another friend whom Dorothy encountered during this series of adventure was “Tiktok.” He was only about as tall as Dorothy herself and his body was round as a ball and made out of burnished copper. Also his head and limbs were copper, and there were jointed or hinged to his body in a peculiar ways, with metal caps over the joints , like the armor worn by knights in days of old. A printed card hung between his shoulders which read as follows:
Smith & Tinkers’s patient double-action, extra-responsive, though-creating, perfect-talking, mechanical man, fitted with our special clock-work attachment. Thinks, speaks, acts and does everything but live.
He proved after Dorothy had wound him upend got him working a valuable friend indeed, but Billina, a yellow hen, which was Dorothys first companion when she started on he adventure, finally turned out to be the one who rescued Dorothy, Princess Ozma, the Cowardly Lion, the Hungry Tiger, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and all the others, from the wrath of King Roqual when they invaded his domain to rescue the Queen of EV and her children from the slavery in which he held them.
When Dorothy left her home, at the beginning of the story, she had no idea that all these adventures were to ensue, for she started to take a quiet vacation with her Uncle Henry. On their way across the ocean, a storm washed Dorothy overboard and the waves carried her to the Land of Ev, There she met all the wonderful people just told about, and with them went to the Dominions of King Roquat, the King of the underground world. He had magic powers which enabled him to transform any one into anything which he pleased and this he had done, with the poor queen and the Princesses, whom Dorothy and Ozma wanted to rescue. Thanks to Bellina, Dorothy obtained his magic belt without which he was powerless, rescued her friends and escaped from the cruel ling and made everybody happy.
How fascinating a story all this is to old or young, anyone who knows Mr. Baum’s work can readily understand.
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Price Guide.
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The Guide covers the prices of all Famous Forty Oz books from first to later editions covering over 160 different variations of the same 40 Oz titles. It not only provides the range of prices depending on the book grading level (Fine, Very Good, Good, Fair and Poor), but also includes in the easy-to-follow table format photos of the front covers, bullets related to each title, position of color plates, edition, and printing years.
Past sales of Ozma of Oz
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