L. Frank Baum
Published: 2016-12-20
Total Pages: 318
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L. Frank Baum's most famous book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, appeared in 1900, published by George M. Hill Company, and illustrated by noted Chicago artist and caricaturist, W. W. Denslow. He had worked with Baum on two earlier books, including the successful, Father Goose: His Book, published a year earlier. However, after Baum and Denslow quarrelled, they parted ways and John R. Neill became illustrator for the remainder of Baum's Oz tales. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was an immediate success, selling out its initial run of 10,000 copies and quickly selling out additional printings. Baum's classic tale of a young Kansas girl whisked off by a tornado to a magical land both enchanted and enchanting, continues to engage and thrill readers of all ages more than a century later, so popular that it led to a plethora of Oz books written at first by Baum and then by others. Its enduring popularity prompted numerous stage and film adaptations, most spectacularly the 1939 MGM Technicolor motion picture starring Judy Garland, which altered some of Baum's story, but brought to vivid life its spirit.