The Emerald City of Oz.

BAUM, L. Frank.

Item Number: 35001

Chicago: Reilly & Britton, 1910.

First edition, first state of the sixth Oz book, with 16 full-page color illustrations by John R. Neill. Octavo, original light blue cloth, illustrated with 16 color plates with metallic green ink and numerous black & white drawings by John R. Neill. Near fine in the rare original dust jacket with some light rubbing and wear. The last jacketed copy brought $15,600 at auction.

Leaving their financial troubles behind, Dorothy Gale, Uncle Henry and Aunty Em move to Oz. As they tour the magical land on their way to the Emerald City, Dorothy and her family visit never-before seen strange and wonderful parts of Oz, including a city of paper dolls, a city of jigsaw people, and a city of bunnies. Meanwhile, the wicked Nome king plots to conquer Oz and enslave its people, and prepares to invade the Emerald City just as Dorothy and her family arrive. Baum intended to conclude his popular series with this volume. By the tale’s end, the sorceress Glinda has made the fairyland invisible to the outside world, and Dorothy and her aunt and uncle, facing eviction from their Kansas farm, have settled in the Emerald City to stay. Baum’s own bankruptcy the next year, however, would mean he “had no choice but to call once more upon the magic of Oz in an attempt to restore his fortunes” (Eyles, 48).