This blog post was written by Maris Tiller, SCRC Research Services GRA. Maris is a Graduate student pursuing her Master’s in Creative Writing with a concentration in fiction.
The classic children’s book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum has been treasured by children and adults for over a century, immortalized by the famous MGM film and reimagined for decades after its publication. Lesser known are the further adventures of Oz that Baum wrote afterwards, which have not been as widely sought after for adaptation. In total, Baum wrote 17 books involving the land of Oz and its characters in his lifetime. Here in the Special Collections Research Center, we have the third book in the Oz series, Ozma of Oz, complete with the original John R. Neill illustrations.
This is the first book in the series outside of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to feature Dorothy Gale as the main character. The second Oz book, The Marvelous Land of Oz, focuses instead on the adventures of a boy named Tip, returning characters from the first Oz book like the Scarecrow and Tin Woodsman, and brand-new creatures like Jack Pumpkinhead and the Wogglebug. At the end of The Marvelous Land of Oz, it is revealed that the boy Tip has all along been the lost princess and rightful ruler of Oz, Ozma. She is quickly returned to her original form. These characters and this new status quo are carried over into the rest of the series.
Ozma of Oz puts Dorothy back into the focus of the Oz books, her return to the magical land facilitated by a storm at sea. This time, she is transported to the lands surrounding Oz, which are inhabited and ruled by different creatures than the ones seen in the original book. In addition to this, Dorothy meets Ozma, reconnects with her old friends from the first Oz book, and becomes more enamored with the magical land. In contrast to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the focus of Dorothy’s journey is less on her wish to go home but more so on her new, exciting experiences.
Young readers are introduced to a variety of new Ozian creatures in this book. Among these are:
- The Wheelers, a part-human, part-vehicle species.
- Tik-Tok, a copper automaton who Dorothy befriends upon her arrival.
- Princess Languidere, who can change her head as if it was an article of clothing, picking from a collection in her cabinet.
- The Nome King, the spiteful and selfish ruler of an underground kingdom of gnomes. He becomes a recurring villain in the series.
This first edition of Ozma of Oz contains original illustrations by John R. Neill, who began illustrating for Baum with The Marvelous Land of Oz. Neill’s depictions of the Oz characters became so beloved that he continued to illustrate for the series after Baum’s death and even wrote a few books for the series himself.
Ozma of Oz marked a turning point for Baum’s books. It expanded the world of Oz for its young readers who, if Baum himself is to be believed, were clamoring for new characters and adventures. In a brief author’s note at the beginning of Ozma of Oz, Baum talks about his “…friends the children…” who have asked him for further Oz adventures and are, in part, responsible for the resulting book. The desires of Baum’s fans to see Dorothy return, their curiosity about the world of Oz, fueled the creative direction of the series. It seems fitting, then, that Baum dedicates this important turning point in the Oz series, “To all the boys and girls who read my stories—and especially to the Dorothys—this book is lovingly dedicated.”
Featuring images from SCRC’s copy of Ozma of Oz : a record of her adventures with Dorothy Gale of Kansas, the Yellow Hen, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, Tiktok, the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger : besides other good people too numerous to mention faithfully recorded herein, by L. Frank Baum (PS3503.A92 O9).
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