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''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' is a children's novel written by author L. Frank Baum and illustrated by
W. W. Denslow William Wallace Denslow (; May 5, 1856 – March 29, 1915), professionally W. W. Denslow, was an American illustrator and caricaturist remembered for his work in collaboration with author L. Frank Baum, especially his illustrations of ''The ...
. It is the first novel in the Oz series of books. A
Kansas Kansas () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its Capital city, capital is Topeka, Kansas, Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita, Kansas, Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebras ...
farm girl named Dorothy ends up in the magical
Land of Oz The Land of Oz is a fantasy world, magical country introduced in the 1900 children's novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by William Wallace Denslow, W. W. Denslow. Oz consists of four vast quadrants, th ...
after she and her pet dog Toto are swept away from their home by a
tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, alt ...
. Upon her arrival in Oz, she learns she cannot return home until she has destroyed the
Wicked Witch of the West The Wicked Witch of the West is a fictional character who appears in the classic children's novel '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900), created by American author L. Frank Baum. In Baum's subsequent ''Oz'' novels, it is the Nome King who is ...
. The book was first published in the United States in May 1900 by the George M. Hill Company. In January 1901, the publishing company completed printing the first edition, a total of 10,000 copies, which quickly sold out. It had sold three million copies by the time it entered the
public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired ...
in 1956. It was often reprinted under the title ''The Wizard of Oz'', which is the title of the successful 1902 Broadway musical adaptation as well as the classic 1939 live-action film. The ground-breaking success of both the original 1900 novel and the 1902 Broadway musical prompted Baum to write thirteen additional Oz books which serve as official sequels to the first story. Over a century later, the book is one of the best-known stories in American literature, and the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...
has declared the work to be "America's greatest and best-loved homegrown fairytale."


Publication

L. Frank Baum's story was published by George M. Hill Company. The first edition had a printing of 10,000 copies and was sold in advance of the publication date of September 1, 1900. On May 17, 1900, the first copy came off the press; Baum assembled it by hand and presented it to his sister, Mary Louise Baum Brewster. The public saw it for the first time at a book fair at the Palmer House in Chicago, July 5–20. Its copyright was registered on August 1; full distribution followed in September. By October 1900, it had already sold out and the second edition of 15,000 copies was nearly depleted. In a letter to his brother, Baum wrote that the book's publisher, George M. Hill, predicted a sale of about 250,000 copies. In spite of this favorable conjecture, Hill did not initially predict that the book would be phenomenally successful. He agreed to publish the book only when the manager of the Chicago Grand Opera House, Fred R. Hamlin, committed to making it into a musical stage play to publicize the novel. The play '' The Wizard of Oz'' debuted on June 16, 1902. It was revised to suit adult preferences and was crafted as a "musical extravaganza," with the costumes modeled after Denslow's drawings. When Hill's publishing company became bankrupt in 1901, the Indianapolis-based Bobbs-Merrill Company resumed publishing the novel. By 1938, more than one million copies of the book had been printed. By 1956, sales had grown to three million copies.


Plot

Dorothy Gale is a young girl who lives with her
Aunt Em Aunt Em is a fictional character from the Oz books. Jack Snow, ''Who's Who in Oz'', Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1954; New York, Peter Bedrick Books, 1988; p. 10. She is the aunt of Dorothy Gale and wife of Uncle Henry, and lives together with them on a ...
, Uncle Henry, and dog, Toto, on a farm on the
Kansas Kansas () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its Capital city, capital is Topeka, Kansas, Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita, Kansas, Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebras ...
prairie. One day, Dorothy and Toto are caught up in a
cyclone In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an an ...
that deposits them and the farmhouse into Munchkin Country in the magical
Land of Oz The Land of Oz is a fantasy world, magical country introduced in the 1900 children's novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by William Wallace Denslow, W. W. Denslow. Oz consists of four vast quadrants, th ...
. The falling house has killed the Wicked Witch of the East, the evil ruler of the
Munchkin A Munchkin is a native of the fictional Munchkin Country in the Oz books by American author L. Frank Baum. They first appear in the classic children's novel '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900) where they welcome Dorothy Gale to their city i ...
s. The Good Witch of the North arrives with three grateful Munchkins and gives Dorothy the magical
silver shoes The Silver Shoes are the magical shoes that appear in L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' as heroine Dorothy Gale's transport home. They are originally owned by the Wicked Witch of the East but passed to Dorothy when he ...
that originally belonged to the Wicked Witch. The Good Witch tells Dorothy that the only way she can return home to Kansas is to follow the
yellow brick road The yellow brick road is a fictional element in the 1900 children's novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' by American author L. Frank Baum. The road also appears in the several sequel Oz books such as ''The Marvelous Land of Oz'' (1904) and ''Th ...
to the Emerald City and ask the great and powerful Wizard of Oz to help her. As Dorothy embarks on her journey, the Good Witch of the North kisses her on the forehead, giving her magical protection from harm. On her way down the yellow brick road, Dorothy attends a banquet held by a Munchkin named
Boq Boq is a minor character in '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' by L. Frank Baum. Jack Snow, ''Who's Who in Oz'', Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1954; New York, Peter Bedrick Books, 1988; p. 23. He becomes a more prominent character in Gregory Maguire's 19 ...
. The next day, she frees a
Scarecrow A scarecrow is a decoy or mannequin, often in the shape of a human. Humanoid scarecrows are usually dressed in old clothes and placed in open fields to discourage birds from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops.Lesle ...
from the pole on which he is hanging, applies oil from a can to the rusted joints of a Tin Woodman, and meets a
Cowardly Lion The Cowardly Lion is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. He is depicted as an African lion, but like all animals in Oz, he can speak. Since lions are supposed to be "The Kings of Beasts," the Cowardly ...
. The Scarecrow wants a brain, the Tin Woodman wants a heart, and the Lion wants courage, so Dorothy encourages them to journey with her and Toto to the Emerald City to ask for help from the Wizard. After several adventures, the travelers arrive at the Emerald City and meet the Guardian of the Gates, who asks them to wear green tinted spectacles to keep their eyes from being blinded by the city's brilliance. Each one is called to see the Wizard. He appears to Dorothy as a giant head, to the Scarecrow as a lovely lady, to the Tin Woodman as a terrible beast, and to the Lion as a ball of fire, with the intention of scaring them all, but of course choosing the wrong image to make the desired impression. He agrees to help them all if they kill the
Wicked Witch of the West The Wicked Witch of the West is a fictional character who appears in the classic children's novel '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900), created by American author L. Frank Baum. In Baum's subsequent ''Oz'' novels, it is the Nome King who is ...
, who rules over Winkie Country. The Guardian warns them that no one has ever managed to defeat the witch. The Wicked Witch of the West sees the travelers approaching with her one telescopic eye. She sends a pack of
wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...
to tear them to pieces, but the Tin Woodman kills them with his axe. She sends a flock of wild crows to peck their eyes out, but the Scarecrow kills them by twisting their necks. She summons a swarm of black
bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfami ...
s to sting them, but they are killed while trying to sting the Tin Woodman while the Scarecrow's straw hides the others. She sends a dozen of her Winkie slaves to attack them, but the Lion stands firm to repel them. Finally, she uses the power of her Golden Cap to send the Winged Monkeys to capture Dorothy, Toto, and the Lion. She cages the Lion, scatters the straw of the Scarecrow, and dents the Tin Woodman. Dorothy is forced to become the witch's personal slave, while the witch schemes to steal her silver shoes. The witch successfully tricks Dorothy out of one of her silver shoes. Angered, she throws a bucket of water at the witch and is shocked to see her melt away. The Winkies rejoice at being freed from her tyranny and help restuff the Scarecrow and mend the Tin Woodman. They ask the Tin Woodman to become their ruler, which he agrees to do after helping Dorothy return to Kansas. Dorothy finds the witch's Golden Cap and summons the Winged Monkeys to carry her and her friends back to the Emerald City. The King of the Winged Monkeys tells how he and his band are bound by an enchantment to the cap by the sorceress Gayelette from the North, and that Dorothy may use it to summon them two more times. When Dorothy and her friends meet the Wizard again, Toto tips over a screen in a corner of the throne room that reveals the Wizard, who sadly explains he is a humbug—an ordinary old man who, by a hot air balloon, came to Oz long ago from
Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest c ...
. He provides the Scarecrow with a head full of bran, pins, and needles ("a lot of bran-new brains"), the Tin Woodman with a silk heart stuffed with sawdust, and the Lion a potion of "courage". Their faith in his power gives these items a focus for their desires. He decides to take Dorothy and Toto home and then go back to Omaha in his balloon. At the send-off, he appoints the Scarecrow to rule in his stead, which he agrees to do after helping Dorothy return to Kansas. Toto chases a kitten in the crowd and Dorothy goes after him, but the ropes holding the balloon break and the Wizard floats away. Dorothy summons the Winged Monkeys and tells them to carry her and Toto home, but they explain they can't cross the desert surrounding Oz. The
Soldier with the Green Whiskers The Soldier with the Green Whiskers is a character from the fictional Land of Oz who appears in the classic children's series of Oz books by American author L. Frank Baum and his successors. He is first introduced in ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ...
informs Dorothy that Glinda, the Good Witch of the South may be able to help her return home, so the travelers begin their journey to see Glinda's castle in
Quadling Country The Quadling Country is the southern division of L. Frank Baum's fictional Land of Oz, first introduced in '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900). It is distinguished by the color red, worn by most of the local inhabitants called the Quadlings as ...
. On the way, the Lion kills a giant spider who is terrorizing the animals in a forest. They ask him to become their king, which he agrees to do after helping Dorothy return to Kansas. Dorothy summons the Winged Monkeys a third time to fly them over a hill to Glinda's castle. Glinda greets them and reveals that Dorothy's silver shoes can take her anywhere she wishes to go. She embraces her friends, all of whom will be returned to their new kingdoms through Glinda's three uses of the Golden Cap: the Scarecrow to the Emerald City, the Tin Woodman to Winkie Country, and the Lion to the forest; after which the cap will be given to the King of the Winged Monkeys, freeing him and his band. Dorothy takes Toto in her arms, knocks her heels together three times, and wishes to return home. Instantly, she begins whirling through the air and rolling on the grass of the Kansas prairie, up to the farmhouse, though the silver shoes fall off her feet en route and are lost in the Deadly Desert. She runs to Aunt Em, saying "I'm so glad to be home again!"


Illustrations

The book was illustrated by Baum's friend and collaborator
W. W. Denslow William Wallace Denslow (; May 5, 1856 – March 29, 1915), professionally W. W. Denslow, was an American illustrator and caricaturist remembered for his work in collaboration with author L. Frank Baum, especially his illustrations of ''The ...
, who also co-held the copyright. The design was lavish for the time, with illustrations on many pages, backgrounds in different colors, and several color plate illustrations. The typeface featured the newly designed Monotype Old Style. In September 1900, The ''Grand Rapids Herald'' wrote that Denslow's illustrations are "quite as much of the story as in the writing". The editorial opined that had it not been for Denslow's pictures, the readers would be unable to picture precisely the figures of Dorothy, Toto, and the other characters. Denslow's illustrations were so well known that merchants of many products obtained permission to use them to promote their wares. The forms of the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion, the Wizard, and Dorothy were made into rubber and metal sculptures. Costume jewelry, mechanical toys, and soap were also designed using their figures. The distinctive look of Denslow's illustrations led to imitators at the time, most notably Eva Katherine Gibson's ''Zauberlinda, the Wise Witch'', which mimicked both the typography and the illustration design of ''Oz''. A new edition of the book appeared in 1944, with illustrations by Evelyn Copelman. Although it was claimed that the new illustrations were based on Denslow's originals, they more closely resemble the characters as seen in the famous 1939 film version of Baum's book.


Creative inspiration


Baum's personal life

According to Baum's son, Harry Neal, the author had often told his children "whimsical stories before they became material for his books." Harry called his father the "swellest man I knew," a man who was able to give a decent reason as to why black birds cooked in a pie could afterwards get out and sing. Many of the characters, props, and ideas in the novel were drawn from Baum's personal life and experiences. Baum held different jobs, moved a lot, and was exposed to many people, so the inspiration for the story could have been taken from many different aspects of his life. In the introduction to the story, Baum writes that "it aspires to being a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heart-aches and nightmares are left out."


Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman

As a child, Baum frequently had nightmares of a scarecrow pursuing him across a field. Moments before the scarecrow's "ragged hay fingers" nearly gripped his neck, it would fall apart before his eyes. Decades later, as an adult, Baum integrated his tormentor into the novel as the Scarecrow. In the early 1880s, Baum's play ''Matches'' was being performed when a "flicker from a kerosene lantern sparked the rafters", causing the Baum opera house to be consumed by flames. Scholar Evan I. Schwartz suggested that this might have inspired the Scarecrow's severest terror: "There is only one thing in the world I am afraid of. A lighted match." According to Baum's son Harry, the Tin Woodman was born from Baum's attraction to window displays. He wished to make something captivating for the window displays, so he used an eclectic assortment of scraps to craft a striking figure. From a wash-boiler he made a body, from bolted stovepipes he made arms and legs, and from the bottom of a saucepan he made a face. Baum then placed a funnel hat on the figure, which ultimately became the Tin Woodman.


Dorothy, Uncle Henry, and the Witches

Baum's wife Maud Gage frequently visited their newborn niece, Dorothy Louise Gage, whom she adored as the daughter she never had. The infant became gravely sick and died aged five months in
Bloomington, Illinois Bloomington is a city and the county seat of McLean County, Illinois, United States. It is adjacent to the town of Normal, and is the more populous of the two principal municipalities of the Bloomington–Normal metropolitan area. Bloomingto ...
on November 11, 1898, from "congestion of the brain". Maud was devastated. To assuage her distress, Frank made his protagonist of ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' a girl named Dorothy, and he dedicated the book to his wife. The baby was buried at Evergreen Cemetery, where her gravestone has a statue of the character Dorothy placed next to it. Decades later, Jocelyn Burdick—the daughter of Baum's other niece Magdalena Carpenter and a former Democratic
U.S. Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and power ...
from
North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, ...
—asserted that her mother also partly inspired the character of Dorothy. Burdick claimed that her great-uncle spent "considerable time at the Сarpenter homestead... and became very attached to Magdalena." Burdick has reported many similarities between her mother's homestead and the farm of Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. Uncle Henry was modeled after Henry Gage, Baum's father-in-law. Bossed around by his wife
Matilda Matilda or Mathilda may refer to: Animals * Matilda (chicken) (1990–2006), World's Oldest Living Chicken record holder * Matilda (horse) (1824–1846), British Thoroughbred racehorse * Matilda, a dog of the professional wrestling tag-team The ...
, Henry rarely dissented with her. He flourished in business, though, and his neighbors looked up to him. Likewise, Uncle Henry was a "passive but hard-working man" who "looked stern and solemn, and rarely spoke". The witches in the novel were influenced by
witch-hunting A witch-hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. The classical period of witch-hunts in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America took place in the Early Modern perio ...
research gathered by Matilda Gage. The stories of barbarous acts against accused witches scared Baum. Two key events in the novel involve wicked witches who meet their death through metaphorical means.


The Emerald City and the Land of Oz

In 1890, Baum lived in
Aberdeen, South Dakota Aberdeen ( Lakota: ''Ablíla'') is a city in and the county seat of Brown County, South Dakota, United States, located approximately northeast of Pierre. The city population was 28,495 at the 2020 census, making it the third most populous ci ...
during a drought, and he wrote a witty story in his "Our Landlady" column in Aberdeen's ''The Saturday Pioneer'' about a farmer who gave green goggles to his horses, causing them to believe that the wood chips that they were eating were pieces of grass. Similarly, the Wizard made the people in the Emerald City wear green goggles so that they would believe that their city was built from emeralds. During Baum's short stay in Aberdeen, the dissemination of myths about the plentiful West continued. However, the West, instead of being a wonderland, turned into a wasteland because of a drought and a depression. In 1891, Baum moved his family from South Dakota to Chicago. At that time, Chicago was getting ready for the
World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...
in 1893. Scholar Laura Barrett stated that Chicago was "considerably more akin to Oz than to Kansas". After discovering that the myths about the West's incalculable riches were baseless, Baum created "an extension of the American frontier in Oz". In many respects, Baum's creation is similar to the actual frontier save for the fact that the West was still undeveloped at the time. The Munchkins Dorothy encounters at the beginning of the novel represent farmers, as do the Winkies she later meets. Local legend has it that Oz, also known as the Emerald City, was inspired by a prominent castle-like building in the community of Castle Park near
Holland, Michigan Holland is a city in the western region of the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated near the eastern shore of Lake Michigan on Lake Macatawa, which is fed by the Macatawa River (formerly known locally as the Black Ri ...
, where Baum lived during the summer. The yellow brick road was derived from a road at that time paved by yellow bricks, located in
Peekskill, New York Peekskill is a city in northwestern Westchester County, New York, United States, from New York City. Established as a village in 1816, it was incorporated as a city in 1940. It lies on a bay along the east side of the Hudson River, across from ...
, where Baum attended the Peekskill Military Academy. Baum scholars often refer to the 1893 Chicago World's Fair (the "White City") as an inspiration for the Emerald City. Other legends suggest that the inspiration came from the Hotel Del Coronado near San Diego, California. Baum was a frequent guest at the hotel and had written several of the Oz books there. In a 1903 interview with ''
The Publishers' Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of Bo ...
'', Baum said that the name "Oz" came from his file cabinet labeled "O–Z". Some critics have suggested that Baum's Oz may have been inspired by Australia. Australia is often colloquially spelled or referred to as "Oz". Furthermore, in ''Ozma of Oz'' (1907), Dorothy gets back to Oz as the result of a storm at sea while she and Uncle Henry are traveling by ship to Australia. Like Australia, Oz is an island continent somewhere to the west of California with inhabited regions bordering on a great desert. Baum perhaps intended Oz to be Australia or a magical land in the center of the great Australian desert.


''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''

In addition to being influenced by the fairy-tales of the
Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among th ...
and
Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fairy tales, consist ...
, Baum was significantly influenced by English writer
Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are '' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequ ...
's 1865 novel '' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''. Although Baum found the plot of Carroll's novel to be incoherent, he identified the book's source of popularity as
Alice Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...
herself—a child with whom younger readers could identify, and this influenced Baum's choice of Dorothy as his protagonist. Baum also was influenced by Carroll's views that all children's books should be lavishly illustrated, be pleasurable to read, and not contain any moral lessons. During the
Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwa ...
, Carroll had rejected the popular expectation that children's books must be saturated with
moral A moral (from Latin ''morālis'') is a message that is conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader, or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim. ...
lessons and instead he contended that children should be allowed to be children. Although influenced by Carroll's distinctly English work, Baum nonetheless sought to create a story that had recognizable American elements, such as farming and industrialization. Consequently, Baum combined the conventional features of a
fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful beings. In most cult ...
such as
witch Witchcraft traditionally means the use of Magic (supernatural), magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In Middle Ages, medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually ...
es and wizards with well-known fixtures in his young readers' Midwestern lives such as
scarecrow A scarecrow is a decoy or mannequin, often in the shape of a human. Humanoid scarecrows are usually dressed in old clothes and placed in open fields to discourage birds from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops.Lesle ...
s and
cornfield Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The ...
s.


Influence of Denslow

The original illustrator of the novel,
W. W. Denslow William Wallace Denslow (; May 5, 1856 – March 29, 1915), professionally W. W. Denslow, was an American illustrator and caricaturist remembered for his work in collaboration with author L. Frank Baum, especially his illustrations of ''The ...
, aided in the development of Baum's story and greatly influenced the way it has been interpreted. Baum and Denslow had a close working relationship and worked together to create the presentation of the story through the images and the text. Color is an important element of the story and is present throughout the images, with each chapter having a different color representation. Denslow also added characteristics to his drawings that Baum never described. For example, Denslow drew a house and the gates of the Emerald City with faces on them. In the later ''Oz'' books, John R. Neill, who illustrated all the sequels, continued to use elements from Denslow's earlier illustrations, including faces on the Emerald City's gates. Another aspect is the Tin Woodman's funnel hat, which is not mentioned in the text until later books but appears in most artists' interpretation of the character, including the stage and film productions of 1902–09, 1908, 1910, 1914, 1925, 1931, 1933, 1939, 1982, 1985, 1988, 1992, and others. One of the earliest illustrators not to include a funnel hat was Russell H. Schulz in the 1957 Whitman Publishing edition—Schulz depicted him wearing a pot on his head. Libico Maraja's illustrations, which first appeared in a 1957 Italian edition and have also appeared in English-language and other editions, are well known for depicting him bareheaded.


Allusions to 19th-century America

Many decades after its publication, Baum's work gave rise to a number of political interpretations, particularly in regards to the 19th-century Populist movement in the United States. In a 1964 ''
American Quarterly ''American Quarterly'' is an academic journal and the official publication of the American Studies Association. The journal covers topics of both domestic and international concern in the United States and is considered a leading resource in the ...
'' article titled "The Wizard of Oz: Parable on Populism", educator
Henry Littlefield Henry M. Littlefield (June 12, 1933 – March 30, 2000) was an American educator, author and historian most notable for his claim that L. Frank Baum's ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' was a political satire, founding a long tradition of political i ...
posited that the book served an allegory for the late 19th-century
bimetallism Bimetallism, also known as the bimetallic standard, is a monetary standard in which the value of the monetary unit is defined as equivalent to certain quantities of two metals, typically gold and silver, creating a fixed rate of exchange betw ...
debate regarding monetary policy. Littlefield's thesis achieved some support but was widely criticized by others. Other political interpretations soon followed. In 1971, historian
Richard J. Jensen Richard Joseph Jensen (born October 24, 1941) is an American historian, who was professor of history at the University of Illinois, Chicago, from 1973 to 1996. He has worked on American political, social, military, and economic history as well as ...
theorized in ''The Winning of the Midwest'' that "Oz" was derived from the common abbreviation for "ounce", used for denoting quantities of gold and silver.


Critical response

''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' received positive critical reviews upon release. In a September 1900 review, ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' praised the novel, writing that it would appeal to child readers and to younger children who could not read yet. The review also praised the illustrations for being a pleasant complement to the text. During the subsequent decades after the novel's publication in 1900, it received little critical analysis from scholars of children's literature. Lists of suggested reading published for juvenile readers never contained Baum's work, and his works were rarely assigned in classrooms. This lack of interest stemmed from the scholars' misgivings about fantasy, as well as to their belief that lengthy series had little literary merit. It frequently came under fire in later decades. In 1957, the director of Detroit's libraries banned ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' for having "no value" for children of today, for supporting "negativism", and for bringing children's minds to a "cowardly level". Professor Russel B. Nye of
Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It ...
countered that "if the message of the Oz books—love, kindness, and unselfishness make the world a better place—seems of no value today", then maybe the time is ripe for "reassess nga good many other things besides the Detroit library's approved list of children's books". In 1986, seven Fundamentalist Christian families in Tennessee opposed the novel's inclusion in the public school syllabus and filed a lawsuit. They based their opposition to the novel on its depicting benevolent witches and promoting the belief that integral human attributes were "individually developed rather than God-given". One parent said, "I do not want my children seduced into godless supernaturalism". Other reasons included the novel's teaching that females are equal to males and that animals are personified and can speak. The judge ruled that when the novel was being discussed in class, the parents were allowed to have their children leave the classroom. In April 2000, the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...
declared ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' to be "America's greatest and best-loved homegrown fairytale", also naming it the first American fantasy for children and one of the most-read children's books. Leonard Everett Fisher of '' The Horn Book Magazine'' wrote in 2000 that ''Oz'' has "a timeless message from a less complex era, and it continues to resonate". The challenge of valuing oneself during impending adversity has not, Fisher noted, lessened during the prior 100 years. Two years later, in a 2002 review, Bill Delaney of ''Salem Press'' praised Baum for giving children the opportunity to discover magic in the mundane things in their everyday lives. He further commended Baum for teaching "millions of children to love reading during their crucial formative years". In 2012 it was ranked number 41 on a list of the top 100 children's novels published by ''
School Library Journal ''School Library Journal'' (''SLJ'') is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with ...
''.


Editions

After George M. Hill's bankruptcy in 1902, copyright in the book passed to the Bowen-Merrill Company of
Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...
. The company published most of Baum's other books from 1901 to 1903 (''
Father Goose, His Book ''Father Goose: His Book'' is a collection of nonsense poetry for children, written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow, and first published in 1899. Though generally neglected a century later, the book was a groundbreaking sensati ...
'' (reprint), ''
The Magical Monarch of Mo ''The Surprising Adventures of the Magical Monarch of Mo and His People'' (copyright registered June 17, 1896) is the first full-length children's fantasy novel by L. Frank Baum. Originally published in 1899 as ''A New Wonderland, Being the Fi ...
'' (reprint), ''
American Fairy Tales ''American Fairy Tales'' is the title of a collection of twelve fantasy stories by L. Frank Baum, published in 1901 by the George M. Hill Company, the firm that issued ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' the previous year. The cover, title page, and p ...
'' (reprint), '' Dot and Tot of Merryland'' (reprint), '' The Master Key'', ''The Army Alphabet'', ''The Navy Alphabet'', '' The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus'', '' The Enchanted Island of Yew'', ''The Songs of Father Goose'') initially under the title ''The New Wizard of Oz''. The word "New" was quickly dropped in subsequent printings, leaving the now-familiar shortened title, "The Wizard of Oz," and some minor textual changes were added, such as to "yellow daises," and changing a chapter title from "The Rescue" to "How the Four Were Reunited." The editions they published lacked most of the in-text color and color plates of the original. Many cost-cutting measures were implemented, including removal of some of the color printing without replacing it with black, printing nothing rather than the beard of the
Soldier with the Green Whiskers The Soldier with the Green Whiskers is a character from the fictional Land of Oz who appears in the classic children's series of Oz books by American author L. Frank Baum and his successors. He is first introduced in ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ...
. When Baum filed for bankruptcy after his critically and popularly successful film and stage production '' The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays'' failed to make back its production costs, Baum lost the rights to all of the books published by what was now called Bobbs-Merrill, and they were licensed to the M. A. Donahue Company, which printed them in significantly cheaper "blotting paper" editions with advertising that directly competed with Baum's more recent books, published by the Reilly & Britton Company, from which he was making his living, explicitly hurting sales of ''
The Patchwork Girl of Oz ''The Patchwork Girl of Oz'' by L. Frank Baum is a children's novel, the seventh in the Oz series. Characters include the Woozy, Ojo "the Unlucky", Unc Nunkie, Dr. Pipt, Scraps (the patchwork girl), and others. The book was first published ...
'', the new Oz book for 1913, to boost sales of ''Wizard'', which Donahue called in a full-page ad in ''
The Publishers' Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of Bo ...
'' (June 28, 1913), Baum's "one pre-eminently great Juvenile Book." In a letter to Baum dated December 31, 1914, F.K. Reilly lamented that the average buyer employed by a retail store would not understand why he should be expected to spend 75 cents for a copy of '' Tik-Tok of Oz'' when he could buy a copy of ''Wizard'' for between 33 and 36 cents. Baum had previously written a letter complaining about the Donahue deal, which he did not know about until it was ''fait accompli'', and one of the investors who held ''The Wizard of Oz'' rights had inquired why the royalty was only five or six cents per copy, depending on quantity sold, which made no sense to Baum. A new edition from Bobbs-Merrill in 1949 illustrated by Evelyn Copelman, again titled ''The New Wizard of Oz'', paid lip service to Denslow but was based strongly, apart from the Lion, on the MGM movie. Copelman had illustrated a new edition of ''The Magical Monarch of Mo'' two years earlier. It was not until the book entered the public domain in 1956 that new editions, either with the original color plates, or new illustrations, proliferated. A revised version of Copelman's artwork was published in a
Grosset & Dunlap Grosset & Dunlap is a New York City-based publishing house founded in 1898. The company was purchased by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1982 and today is part of Penguin Random House through its subsidiary Penguin Group. Today, through the Penguin Gr ...
edition, and Reilly & Lee (formerly Reilly & Britton) published an edition in line with the Oz sequels, which had previously treated '' The Marvelous Land of Oz'' as the first Oz book, not having the publication rights to ''Wizard'', with new illustrations by Dale Ulrey. Ulrey had previously illustrated Jack Snow's ''Jaglon and the Tiger-Faries'', an expansion of a Baum short story, " The Story of Jaglon," and a 1955 edition of ''
The Tin Woodman of Oz ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
'', though both sold poorly. Later Reilly & Lee editions used Denslow's original illustrations. Notable more recent editions are the 1986 Pennyroyal edition illustrated by
Barry Moser Barry Moser (born 1940) is an American artist and educator, known as a printmaker specializing in wood engravings, and an illustrator of numerous works of literature. He is also the owner and operator of the Pennyroyal Press, an engraving and smal ...
, which was reprinted by the
University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by facul ...
, and the 2000 ''The Annotated Wizard of Oz'' edited by
Michael Patrick Hearn Michael Patrick Hearn is an American literary scholar as well as a man of letters specializing in children's literature and its illustration. His works include ''The Annotated Wizard of Oz'' (1973/2000), '' The Annotated Christmas Carol'' (1977/20 ...
(heavily revised from a 1972 edition that was printed in a wide format that allowed for it to be a facsimile of the original edition with notes and additional illustrations at the sides), which was published by
W. W. Norton W. W. Norton & Company is an American publishing company based in New York City. Established in 1923, it has been owned wholly by its employees since the early 1960s. The company is known for its Norton Anthologies (particularly ''The Norton A ...
and included all the original color illustrations, as well as supplemental artwork by Denslow. Other centennial editions included University Press of Kansas's ''Kansas Centennial Edition'', illustrated by
Michael McCurdy Michael McCurdy (February 17, 1942 – May 28, 2016) was an American illustrator, author, and publisher. He illustrated over 200 books in his career, including ten that he authored. Most were illustrated with his trademark black and white wood eng ...
with black-and-white illustrations, and
Robert Sabuda Robert James Sabuda (born March 8, 1965) is a children's pop-up book artist and paper engineer. His recent books include retellings of the stories of ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' and ''Alice in Wonderland''.New York Times, 2006 Early life Rober ...
's
pop-up book The term pop-up book is often applied to any book with three-dimensional pages, although it is properly the umbrella term for movable book, pop-ups, tunnel books, transformations, volvelles, flaps, pull-tabs, pop-outs, pull-downs, and more, each ...
.


Sequels

Baum wrote ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' without any thought of a sequel. After reading the novel, thousands of children wrote letters to him, requesting that he craft another story about Oz. In 1904, amid financial difficulties, Baum wrote and published the first sequel, '' The Marvelous Land of Oz'', declaring that he grudgingly wrote the sequel to address the popular demand. He dedicated the book to stage actors Fred Stone and David C. Montgomery who played the characters of the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman on stage. Baum wrote large roles for the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman that he deleted from the stage version, ''
The Woggle-Bug The Mr. Highly Magnified Woggle-Bug, Thoroughly Educated is a character in List of Oz books, the Oz books by L. Frank Baum. He first appears in the book ''The Marvelous Land of Oz'' in 1904 in literature, 1904. He goes by the name H. M. Woggle- ...
'', after Montgomery and Stone had balked at leaving a successful show to do a sequel. Baum later wrote sequels in 1907, 1908, and 1909. In his 1910 ''
The Emerald City of Oz ''The Emerald City of Oz'' is the sixth of L. Frank Baum's fourteen Land of Oz books. It was also adapted into a Canadian animated film in 1987. Originally published on July 20, 1910, it is the story of Dorothy Gale and her Uncle Henry and Aunt ...
'', he wrote that he could not continue writing sequels because Ozland had lost contact with the rest of the world. The children refused to accept this story, so Baum, in 1913 and every year thereafter until his death in May 1919, wrote an ''Oz'' book, ultimately writing 13 sequels and half a dozen Oz short stories. Baum explained the purpose of his novels in a note he penned to his sister, Mary Louise Brewster, in a copy of ''
Mother Goose in Prose ''Mother Goose in Prose'' is a collection of twenty-two children's stories based on Mother Goose nursery rhymes. It was the first children's book written by L. Frank Baum, and the first book illustrated by Maxfield Parrish. It was originally pub ...
'' (1897), his first book. He wrote, "To please a child is a sweet and a lovely thing that warms one's heart and brings its own reward." After Baum's death in 1919, Baum's publishers delegated the creation of more sequels to Ruth Plumly Thompson who wrote 21. An original ''Oz'' book was published every Christmas between 1913 and 1942. By 1956, five million copies of the ''Oz'' books had been published in the English language, while hundreds of thousands had been published in eight foreign languages.


Adaptations

''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' has been adapted to other media numerous times. Within several decades after its publication, the book had inspired a number of stage and screen adaptations, including a profitable 1902 Broadway musical and three silent films. The most popular cinematic adaptation of the story is '' The Wizard of Oz'', the 1939 film starring
Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...
,
Ray Bolger Raymond Wallace Bolger (January 10, 1904 – January 15, 1987) was an American actor, dancer, singer, vaudevillian and stage performer (particularly musical theatre) who started in the silent-film era. Bolger was a major Broadway performer in ...
, Jack Haley, and Bert Lahr. The 1939 film was considered innovative because of its special effects and revolutionary use of
Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...
. The story has been translated into other languages (at least once without permission, resulting in Alexander Volkov's ''
The Wizard of the Emerald City ''The Wizard of the Emerald City'' (russian: Волшебник Изумрудного Города) is a 1939 children's novel by Russian writer Alexander Melentyevich Volkov. The book is a re-narration of L. Frank Baum's ''The Wonderful Wizar ...
'' novel and its sequels, which were translated into English by Sergei Sukhinov) and adapted into comics several times. Following the lapse of the original copyright, the characters have been adapted and reused in spin-offs, unofficial sequels, and reinterpretations, some of which have been controversial in their treatment of Baum's characters.


Influence and legacy

''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' has become an established part of multiple cultures, spreading from its early young American readership to becoming known throughout the world. It has been translated or adapted into nearly every major language, at times being modified in local variations. For instance, in some abridged Indian editions, the Tin Woodman was replaced with a horse. In Russia, a translation by
Alexander Melentyevich Volkov Alexander Melentyevich Volkov (russian: Александр Мелентьевич Волков ; 14 June 1891 – 3 July 1977) was a Soviet novelist, playwright, university lecturer. Аuthor of novels, short stories, plays and poems for chil ...
produced six books, ''
The Wizard of the Emerald City ''The Wizard of the Emerald City'' (russian: Волшебник Изумрудного Города) is a 1939 children's novel by Russian writer Alexander Melentyevich Volkov. The book is a re-narration of L. Frank Baum's ''The Wonderful Wizar ...
'' series, which became progressively distanced from the Baum version, as Ellie and her dog Totoshka travel throughout the Magic Land. The 1939 film adaptation has become a classic of popular culture, shown annually on American television from 1959 to 1998 and then several times a year every year beginning in 1999. In 1974, the story was re-envisioned as ''
The Wiz ''The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz"'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls (and others) and book by William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's children's novel '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' ...
'', a
Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...
winning musical featuring an all-Black cast and set in the context of modern
African-American culture African-American culture refers to the contributions of African Americans to the culture of the United States, either as part of or distinct from mainstream American culture. The culture is both distinct and enormously influential on Ameri ...
. This musical was adapted in 1978 as the feature film ''
The Wiz ''The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz"'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls (and others) and book by William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's children's novel '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' ...
'', a musical adventure fantasy produced by
Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...
and
Motown Productions Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''mot ...
. There were several
Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
translations published in
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
. As established in the first translation and kept in later ones, the book's ''
Land of Oz The Land of Oz is a fantasy world, magical country introduced in the 1900 children's novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by William Wallace Denslow, W. W. Denslow. Oz consists of four vast quadrants, th ...
'' was rendered in Hebrew as ''Eretz Uz'' (ארץ עוץ)—i.e. the same as the original Hebrew name of the Biblical '' Land of Uz'', homeland of Job. Thus, for Hebrew readers, this translators' choice added a layer of Biblical connotations absent from the English original. In 2018, "The Lost Art of Oz" project was initiated to locate and catalogue the surviving original artwork John R. Neill,
W. W. Denslow William Wallace Denslow (; May 5, 1856 – March 29, 1915), professionally W. W. Denslow, was an American illustrator and caricaturist remembered for his work in collaboration with author L. Frank Baum, especially his illustrations of ''The ...
, Frank Kramer, Richard "Dirk" Gringhuis, and Dick Martin that was created to illustrate the ''Oz'' book series. In 2020, an
Esperanto Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communic ...
translation of the novel was used by a team of scientists to demonstrate a new method for encoding text in DNA that remains readable after repeated copying.


See also

*
1900 in literature This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1900. Events *March 5 – New York performances of the play '' Sapho'' curbed for immorality. *March 15 – Sarah Bernhardt stars in premiere of Edmond Rostand's ' ...
* '' The Baum Bugle'' * Wizard of Oz Club * ''
The Wiz ''The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz"'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls (and others) and book by William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's children's novel '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' ...
'' * '' Wicked'' * ''
Tin Man (miniseries) ''Tin Man'' is a 2007 American television miniseries co-produced by RHI Entertainment and the Sci Fi Channel that was broadcast first in the United States on the Sci Fi Channel in three parts. Starring Zooey Deschanel, Neal McDonough, Alan Cu ...
'' * '' Lost in Oz (TV series)'' * '' Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz''


References


Citations


Works cited

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links

* Text: ** ** *
''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900 illustrated copy)
Publisher's green and red illustrated cloth over boards; illustrated endpapers. Plate detached. Public Domain – Charles E. Young Research Library,
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
. at
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
*
Online version of the 1900 first edition
on the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...
website. * Audio: ** *
''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum''
an unabridged dramatic audio performance at Wired for Books. *
A Long and Dangerous Journey – A History of ''The Wizard of Oz'' on the Silver Screen
– Scream-It-Loud.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wonderful Wizard Of Oz, The 1900 American novels 1900 children's books 1900 fantasy novels American fantasy novels adapted into films American novels adapted into plays American novels adapted into television shows Books about lions Censored books Farms in fiction Novels about orphans Novels adapted into comics Novels adapted into radio programs Novels adapted into video games Novels set in fictional countries Novels set in Kansas Oz (franchise) books Portal fantasy Witchcraft in written fiction Wizards in fiction