The Tin Woodman of Oz
Chicago: Reilly & Britton, 1918. First Edition. Hardcover. 1st edition, 1st printing. Fine in a good, but unrestored and scarce 1st printing dustjacket. fine / good. Item #914
Arguably the most important Oz book after the first one, at last telling the backstory, the creation of Oz as a fairyland in the time before Dorothy’s arrival, followed by an adventure with most of the familiar characters and a few new ones.
Witches, of a sort, in literature, trace to Circe in Homer’s Odyssey and the likes of Morgana in King Arthur but the modern version began in Basile’s Sleeping Beauty (originally titled Sun, Moon and Talia) from his Pentamerone (1634), however it was Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz that gave the witch (the Wicked Witch of the West) some depth, and that was because Baum. developed his characters, better than most, by understanding that the reader goes from language to thought while the writer goes from thought to language.
Price: $6,500.00