Tuesday, September 14, 2010

WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ FIRST EDITION by L. FRANK BAUM 1899




















(Wizardofbaum..wizofbeach@yahoo.com) rare WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ in the first state B binding (less than 2000 printed in the binding,,O outside the C wheras later states has the O inside the C)

THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ, Chicago and New York.
Geo. M. Hill Co. 1900, 261 pages. Illustrated by William Denslow

First state points are also depicted.

1. 11 lines at the end of the book in a box
2. no publishers date in back of title page
3. publishers advertisement is enclosed in a box
4. "low wail on"..page 14
5. Pieces spelled peices on page 81, fourth line from botton
6. "while tin woodman"..page 227
7. Plate facing page 34 has two blue dots on the moon
8. Plate facing page 92 has red shading on the horizon

If the publishers ads are enclosed in a box on page 2 and it is a clean copy it is time to up the house insurance. Variant B with Geo Hill's name in red is still a very valuable book in decent condition. Variant A is exceedingly difficult and was mainly handed out to friends and family. Variant C which has Geo Hill serifed and stamped in red with C of Co encircling the O is also serious money. 'Serifed' means with a few fancy twirls, as opposed to plain no nonsense typography.

10,000 copies of the first edition were printed

2 comments:

Frances said...

which of the two books is worth more?

Mark Shapiro,aka Wizardofbaum said...

the book pictured is the most expensive and the rarest due to binding with the O outside the C on co on the spine after Geo. Hill...the interior has to meet all first state points (first state is the book with the most mistakes before the printer noticed it.