I found an old copy of The Wizard of Oz today at an estate sale. It is
completely worthless financially as it is falling apart, but I am
curious as to the date of publication and publisher. It is by Frank
Baum, of course, with pictures by W.W. Denslow. It has green cloth
boards with orange and black lettering on the cover -- the scarecrow
is seen sitting in a tree with a crow near by. No DJ. THere is no
publisher or date inside. Possible those pages are missing. Pages are
numbered and there are 259. (There is actually a last page not
numbered, but headed "Chapter XXIV" which has a short paragraph about
Dorothy running to Aunt Em. Inside cover painting extends from boards
to fly leaf -- orange poppies on green with the Lion inside front and
Lion, Scarecrow, Tinman inside back. Any information would be most
appreciated. Thanks!
Teresa

---

Request for Question Clarification by markj-ga on 03 Apr 2005 00:07 PST

ravenbooks --

Is this the cover?

http://www.bookstallsf.com/jpgdir/wizard2.jpg

On my computer, the cover looks grayish, but it is described in
accompanying text as "dark green."

If it is your cover, this may still not be a definitive identification
of the date of your specific edition, since this early 20th century
version was republished after the 1939 film was released, with end
papers illustrating the film.

Let me know if more information on the pictured edition would meet your needs.

markj-ga

---

Clarification of Question by ravenbooks-ga on 03 Apr 2005 06:59 PDT

Yes -- that is the cover, although the ink definately looks more
orange than yellow.

There is no question in my mind that the book predates the film as the
characters in the illustrations look nothing like the film characters,
nor are the end plates from the movie. The books that I bought with
this one were all from the about 1880-1920, so I am guessing that the
book falls in that range. (I know the book came out first in 1900, but
was called "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz."

Thanks for your help. I'd really like to narrow it down to the actual
year and publisher.

Teresa

---

Clarification of Question by ravenbooks-ga on 03 Apr 2005 11:09 PDT

Wow Mark! You are good! 

I think you must be right and that this is a early Bob Merrill
edition. The chapter headings in mine are off just like you suggested
and the text says "bright flowers."

Thanks so much!
 You're amazing! (This is my first Google Answer experience. Can you
adjust your answer to be an official "answer" so you can get paid?)

Teresa



Teresa

Teresa --

Thanks for the kind words, and I am happy that you share my confidence
that we have found the right edition.  I will simply repost the "meat"
of my comment as the answer and add a few words about how I found it. 
I am not an expert, but I wouldn't be surprised if your copy is worth
a few bucks anyway, since intact but flawed copies (like the one cited
below) of the 1903 edition (as opposed to the 1939 reissue) appear to
be worth several hundred.

As noted, I believe that you have the 1903 Bobbs-Merrill edition of
"The [New] Wizard of Oz."  That is the edition with the cover image
that I provided in my clarification request.  Here is another image of
the edition, along with a brief description:

E. Wolfs: Past Auctions (scroll to item 327)
http://www.ewolfs.com/past_auctions/may_books/323


Here is a little relevant history:

"The book was first published by George M. Hill as The Wonderful
Wizard of Oz, but soon afterwards, despite the success of their new
book, the publisher went bankrupt. By the time the book was reissued,
the story had become a hit play under the shortened name The Wizard of
Oz. The new publisher, Bobbs-Merrill, originally called the book The
New Wizard of Oz, but the New was quickly dropped from the cover, and
the book became better known simply as The Wizard of Oz. However, it
was officially still titled The New Wizard of Oz, since that was the
title on record at the copyright office, and on the title page until
1956. For some reason, this edition replaced "yellow daisies" and
"yellow flowers" in chapter 14 with "bright daisies" and "scarlet
flowers," but that is the only change in the text. The earliest
editions also gave chapter 13 two different titles, "How the Four Were
Reunited" on the contents page and "The Rescue" in the text itself.
Later editions cleared this up by resetting the table of contents to
read "The Rescue" for chapter 13."

Eskimo.com: Wonderful Wizard of OZ: FAQ (Question 2.7)
http://www.eskimo.com/~tiktok/faq02.html#7 


Here is the text description that goes with the image I provided in my
first posting:

"2.PHOTO Baum, L. Frank. THE NEW WIZARD OF OZ. Illustrated with 16
color plates by W.W. Denslow + black & white text drawings highlighted
with green, orange, yellow & brown. 2nd edition, 2nd state(following
the Geo.M. Hill edition) Bobbs-Merrill (1903). For this edition
Denslow prepared a new title page, color end paper design and new
cover design, hence the addition of the word "new" to the title. Dark
green cloth with scarecrow design. Page edges and plate edges of page
32 badly chipped & re-inserted. Plate page 160 edges chipped &
repaired with archival tape, and poorly re-inserted. Inscription on
blank page dated Dec.25, 1908. Just Good. $375.00"

Bookstall: Oz Books (scroll to item 2)
http://www.bookstallsf.com/ozbooks.html


You can find much more information about the Bobbs-Merrill editions of
the book by perusing the higher-ranked results of this Google search:

"wizard of oz" "bobbs merrill"
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-01,GGLD:en&q=%22wizard+of+oz%22+%22bobbs+merrill%22


Search Strategy:

There is a whole lot of online information about the Baum book (not to
mention the movie), so my strategy was to design increasingly focused
Google searches that would zero in on the answer.  Here are a few
examples:

"wizard of oz" "259pp OR 260pp"
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-01,GGLD:en&q=%22wizard+of+oz%22+%22259pp+OR+260pp%22

That one (and other variations on it) did not confirm the page count
of your edition, but it did lead to the Bobbs Merrill edition and lots
of general information about various editions.

"wizard of oz" "bobbs merrill"
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-01,GGLD:en&q=%22wizard+of+oz%22+%22bobbs+merrill%22

"wizard of oz" bobbs-merrill scarecrow cover
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-01,GGLD:en&q=%22wizard+of+oz%22+bobbs%2Dmerrill+scarecrow+cover

These (and several variations on them) led to the explicit reference
to the scarecrow on the cover and the other information on the edition
that gave me (and you) confidence that this was it, despite the lack
of reference to the publisher and the date in your copy.


If anything remains unclear, please ask for clarification before
rating the answer.  I am glad that your first experience with Google
Answers has been a good one.


markj-ga

Quick, accurate and helpful! Thanks!

I suggest that you visit:

http://used.addall.com/

There are LOTS of copies listed, many with detailed descriptions that
may help you to get a fix on your copy.

Good Luck!

Teresa --

I can't establish with certainty that this is the edition you have, so
I am posting this information as a comment, not an answer, in the hope
that it help you or another researcher to nail it down.

My strong suspicion is still that you have the 1903 Bobbs-Merrill
edition.  That is the edition with the cover image that I provided in
my clarification request.  Here is another image of the edition, along
with a brief description:

E. Wolfs: Past Auctions (scroll to item 327)
http://www.ewolfs.com/past_auctions/may_books/323


Here is a little relevant history:

"The book was first published by George M. Hill as The Wonderful
Wizard of Oz, but soon afterwards, despite the success of their new
book, the publisher went bankrupt. By the time the book was reissued,
the story had become a hit play under the shortened name The Wizard of
Oz. The new publisher, Bobbs-Merrill, originally called the book The
New Wizard of Oz, but the New was quickly dropped from the cover, and
the book became better known simply as The Wizard of Oz. However, it
was officially still titled The New Wizard of Oz, since that was the
title on record at the copyright office, and on the title page until
1956. For some reason, this edition replaced "yellow daisies" and
"yellow flowers" in chapter 14 with "bright daisies" and "scarlet
flowers," but that is the only change in the text. The earliest
editions also gave chapter 13 two different titles, "How the Four Were
Reunited" on the contents page and "The Rescue" in the text itself.
Later editions cleared this up by resetting the table of contents to
read "The Rescue" for chapter 13."

Eskimo.com: Wonderful Wizard of OZ: FAQ (Question 2.7)
http://www.eskimo.com/~tiktok/faq02.html#7 


Here is the text description that goes with the image I provided in my
first posting:

"2.PHOTO Baum, L. Frank. THE NEW WIZARD OF OZ. Illustrated with 16
color plates by W.W. Denslow + black & white text drawings highlighted
with green, orange, yellow & brown. 2nd edition, 2nd state(following
the Geo.M. Hill edition) Bobbs-Merrill (1903). For this edition
Denslow prepared a new title page, color end paper design and new
cover design, hence the addition of the word "new" to the title. Dark
green cloth with scarecrow design. Page edges and plate edges of page
32 badly chipped & re-inserted. Plate page 160 edges chipped &
repaired with archival tape, and poorly re-inserted. Inscription on
blank page dated Dec.25, 1908. Just Good. $375.00"

Bookstall: Oz Books (scroll to item 2)
http://www.bookstallsf.com/ozbooks.html


You can find much more information about the Bobbs-Merrill editions of
the book by perusing the higher-ranked results of this Google search:

"wizard of oz" "bobbs merrill"
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-01,GGLD:en&q=%22wizard+of+oz%22+%22bobbs+merrill%22


markj-ga

Teresa --

You are quite welcome, and thanks for the nice tip.

markj-ga