Friday, March 30, 2012

Binding


The publishing company changed from The Rilley and Britton Co. to Reilly and Lee Co., so there are two versions of the book, the 1904 version, and the 1919 version. In the original version the word "marvelous" remains. There is green coloring for the emerald stones, that the scarecrow and tinman are sitting on, as well as the solider on the spine of the book. The pumpkin-headed man is printed in black metal on the back cover for the 1904 version. In the 1919 version, the title is shortened to Land of Oz, and there is no decoration on the back cover.
1904 Original Binding- Reilly & Britton Co.


Height: 24 cm.; Width: 18 cm.; Depth: 4 cm.

Book cloth: Brownish Orange Rib-grain cloth. Grain pattern.

Technique: Black metal stamping on spine, and on front, with green color for emrald

Endpapers -- No design

Spine: Title, author, decoration of General Jin Jar, publishing company: The Reilly and Britton Co.
Edges: colored yellow.
Front: decoration of Tin man and Scarecrow

Back: decoration of Pumpkin man





1919 Binding Reilly & Lee Co.

Height: 24 cm.; Width: 18 cm.; Depth: 4 cm.

Book cloth: Brownish Orange Rib-grain cloth. Grain pattern. 

Paper: Full-color paper onlay on front.

Technique: Black metal stamping on spine

Endpapers -- Printed with black sillouettes of characters.

Edges: colored yellow

Spine: Title, author's name, uncolored decoration of Genreal Jin Jar and Publishing company: Reilly and Lee

Signed binding: L. Frank Baum on bottom right of front cover.
  
Back: no decoration


1919 Endpapers












Illustrator

John R. Neill (2nd Illustrator of the Series)

John Rea Neill (1877-1943) illustrated thirty five volumes of  the Oz books--that is, 13 out of 14 Oz books.  He also wrote four of the editions, including The Wonder City of Oz, The Scalawagons of Oz, Lucky Bucky in Oz, and The Run Away of Oz. Although Neill did not illustrate the first The Wizard of Oz book, he is known for establishing the look of Oz and the strange beings who lived there (Carpenter, p.74).

Neill was born in 1877, in Philadelphia, PA. He was the fifth child out of eight children. After his father died, his mother ran the family laundry buisness which kept the family stable. After High School, in 1895, Neill enrolled in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, but soon dropped out because "they have nothing to teach him". Neill's jobs consited as a "cub reporter" (1896) for Philadelphia newspaper doing sketches in Police Court, Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia North American (1898), Public Ledger (1904).

In 1904, Neill was approached by publisher's Reilly & Britton to illustrate The Land of Oz. He was 26 years old, and would become the principal illustreator for the rest of the Oz series books. Neill appreceated Denslow's ilustrations, but decided to add his own creative style to Oz.

 Neill continued to illustrate the Oz books and other work as a freelance artist fulltime. When the depression hit in 1930, illustrators were ousted and photographers became more prominent.   Neill died in 1943, at the age of 65.

This biography is accurate, because the copyright date on the book states that the book was published in July, 1904.

Why did Neill illustrate the second book, and not the first Oz book?














W.W. Denslow (1st Illustrator of the Series)

Since The Land of Oz is part of a series, it is important to comment on the previous illustrators who contributed to the series, to help explain why the illustrations appear different. Another illustrator by the name of William Wallace Denslow illustrated the first book The Wizard of Oz, while John R. Neill illustrated the second book. It has been noted that the author L. Frank Baum and Denslow held the copyrights to the work jointly. In this case, Denslow argued with Baum and the composer Paul Tietjens for equal royalty shares for the stage adaptation of The Wizard of Oz (Wiki). In Katherine M. Rogers L.Frank Baum Creator of Oz: A Biography, points out the disagreement between Baum and Denslow "Baum had resolved never to let another artist share the copyright on his characters; he was still nursing his resentment in 1915, when he reiterated this resolve to his publishers" (Rogers, p.127). Therefore, it appeads that Baum and Denslow shared copyrights over the work. In this case, as the illustrator Denslow should have the right to use his own art, but Baum disagreed. Since Denslow shared copyright to characters with Baum, he used the art of the Baum books to create newspaper comic strips featuring the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman. Baum and Denslow's argument shows the struggle between author's and illustrators to rights of the material they produce together. Baum would not have been successful without Denslow's illustrations, and Denslow would not have been able to draw the pictures without Baum's idea. Together they accomplished the Wizard of Oz book, but money separated them. This problem taught Baum to never share his copyright with another illustrator.

Comparison of Illustrators

Therefore, in order to keep the same flow of work, Neill's illustrations had to reflect the same as Denslow's. Research highlights how Neill was able to be creative despite the consistency to Denslow's work:"Denslow's illustrations had been quite popular. However, as the series expanded, Neill brought his own unique flair to the illustrations, showing more artistic representations of the characters as well as beautiful paintings of numerous scenes. In fact, he was later named the Royal Painter of Oz" (Rogers, p. 127). There are noticble differences in the illustrations. Neill's Tinman has a square-shaped face, and Denslow's Tin man has a rounded head shape, with the hat tilted to the side. Denslow's scarecrow has a potato-sack look, while Neill's scarecrow has a rounded-shaped head.
Denslow

The illustrations between the two are different. Denslow's Dorothy is illustrated as a chubby five or six-year old, with long brown hair in two braids. The tin man has a rounded shaped head. Denslow's skill seems to be drawing comical animals with human expressions. The scarecrow looks as if he is stuffed with straw, but also has muscles. There is duality in the illustrations.

In the right corner is a picture of Denslow's slogan, which is a pictue of a seahorse next to his initials.
Neill
When Dorothy's character is re-introduced in Ozma of Oz (1907) Neill illustrates her as a modernized ten-year-old girl with an American fashionable appearance: blonde hair cut into a bob (John). The sacrecrow's face has a circular shape, and the Tinman's face is more square shaped.   
















References
John R. Neill. "The Royal Illustrator of Oz and More." Accessed 30 March 2012 from 

John R. Neill. "Oz Wiki." Accessed 30 March 2012 from http://oz.wikia.com/wiki/John_R._Neill

Photos



Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Publisher(s)

George M. Hill Company 1900


George M. Hill was one of the pioneers of the bookbinding industry in Chicago. Hill started to learn the bookbinding trade as an apprentice for A.J. Cox the founder of the firm of A.J. Cox & Co, then worked in various other binderies, rising from foreman to superintendent, then to manager (George). In 1893, he started in business for himself, under the firm name of George M. Hill Company, changing to the Hill Binding Company in 1902. It is interesting to note that an obituary page on Hill provided detailed information on his life as a publisher, which helped to identify how publishing companies were approached by writers, and what publishing companies offer writers.  The Hill publishing company published children's books, but also published a reprint of the 1847 edition of Webster's Dictionary, which was out of copywrght (Wiki). In 1902, the Hill company purchased the right from G&C Merriam Company, which now is called Merriam-Webster. 
When Baum and Denslow developed Father Goose, a collection of rhymes and illustrations, together they agreed to share royalties. In 1899, they looked for a publisher to produce their work. Denslow sent a copy with his name in big letters and Baum's in small letters. Later, he was persuaded to decrease the size of his name on the cover to give Baum equal credit (Rogers, p. 67). Together, they approached George M. Hill; "he specialized in cheap reprints of standard novels, and was not enthusiastic about their project, but agreed to print and bind the book if Baum and Denslow would pay the entire cost of publication (Rogers, p. 68). Denslow and Baum were to pay for the lavish illustrations, supplying "all the plates for the pages, cover, and even advertising posters" (Rogers p. 68). On the other hand, Hill handled other expenses, including binding, paper, and distribution. The Father Goose books were successful, which led the team to work on another book together--"by the end of the year, it had sold 75, 500 copies (Rogers, p. 68). The Hill company published Baum's first book in the Oz series entitled The Wizard of Oz. (1900). Another work entitled American Fairy Tales  (1901) the G.M. Hill company produced. The work was a collection of twelve fantasy stories by Baum, and it was published in 1901. The designer for the collection was Ralph Fletcher Seymour (American). (See Illumination post).
Bobbs-Merril Company 1902
The George M. Hill Company went bankrupt and out of business, so Baum had to look for another publishing house to publish his work. A few other publishing houses including: Bobbs-Merrill and the Century Company were options. Bobbs-Merrill, the firm that bought the rights to Baum's books when George M. Hill, went out of business in February 1902 (Rogers p. 103). Baum signed with Bobbs-Merill but was unhappy with the company because he was one of many authors on the list. Baum did not want a publisher with a long list of established authors, instead he needed a publisher with which he could make long-term plans rather then dealing manuscript by manuscript (Rogers p. 117). The fact that the other publishing houses had more author's on their list, would prevent Baum's work from being considered. Since Baum wanted to create a series he needed a publisher who would consider the entire range of books. The idea that an entire book written as series might have been a new idea. In the 19th century, Charles Dickens wrote chapters in increments, but he never wrote an entire book as a series.
Reilly and Britton Company 1904
Two men who were employees at the Hill Company, head salesman Sumner Charles Britton and production manager Frank K. Reilly, decided to begin a new publishing firm on their own, named Reilly and Britton. They were personal friends of Baum, and encouraged Baum to write the second book in the Oz series. The second book would be the first title to be published by their new publishing company. The Reilly & Britton Company fit Baum's needs. Because the firm was a new company, there were few author's on the list, they could afford to spend time planning and entire series of books with Baum. Why be one among many on a list? This decision to go with an unestablished publishing house might have diminished Baum's books in the eyes of critics, but it did not effect his readership (Rogers, p. 122). Baum signed a new contract with Reilly & Britton agreeing to create the publisher’s juvenile list, committing to write 5 juveniles and one adult novel "he was assuring himself of the position of premiere juvenile author with the company" (Reilly p. 117).
Reilly & Britton agreed not to publish any juveniles in 1906 except those by Baum. It was the beginning of the golden age of juveniles serials, and Reilly and Britton was known as the publisher of series books for children and teenagers (Reilly, p. 117).

This contract between publisher and writer is different from the process of children's books today. Freelance writer can submit their work, and illustrators will be chosen to accompany the writing. Sometimes writer and artist never meet, today. For Baum and the publishing company, it appears as though he has control of his work, but he is also instructed to write an adult novel. This is interesting, because Baum is known to be a children's author. However, forcing Baum to write for an older audience is great because it can show his range as a writer. Researching for his adult novels, I discovered that many were for young adult audience, under a pseudonym, with a female name Edith Van Dyne. Under Edith, Baum wrote a ten novel series called Aunt Jane's Nieces (1906). According to Edith is one of many pseudonyms that Baum used for his non-Oz books. The use of a pseudonym is a clever way to keep the books separate. Using Baum's name for new books for an older audience could have been distracting for Oz fans, who, it appears ,were mostly children. The idea of using a female for his pseudonym is another comment on the 20th century's changing society--women's rights, and equality.  
 
The Marvelous Land of Oz prompted the following publications published by Reilly and Britton:
1.) Series of 26 short stories entitled "Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz," which ran in several newspapers from August 28, 1904 to February 26, 1905 ( Riley, p.108.)
2.) Short book The Woggle-Bug Book (1905)
3.) Play based on the book The Woggle-Bug Book
4.) Adult novel The Fate of a Crown by Baum under a pseudonym "Schuler Staunton" (Riley, p. 117)
5.) Reilly and Britton promoted the new Oz book by publishing an Oz newspaper for children. The Ozmapolitan. The Ozmapolitan was a real newspaper that included a Sunday comic page about events from the world of Oz.
Reilly & Britton remained Baum's publisher for the remainder of his career, starting with The Marvelous Land of Oz. The firm did not become a popular publishing company from the Oz series. The most promenient author's were Baum and a poet named Edgar Guest.
Other Books Published by Reilly & Britton:
1.) Classics like Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm
2.) Popular and topical series books The Airship Boys and The Boy Scouts of the Air.
3.) Sports materials: baseball books
4.) Popular authors: poet Edgar Guest (best known for "The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat").
Reilly & Lee Company 1919

In 1919, the Reilly & Britton firm became Reilly & Lee. In 1965,   a publisher named Dick Martin prepared a new issue of The Ozmapolitan, the imaginary newspaper of the Emerald City. You can download a PDF of the entire issue by clicking here.

Publishing Houses of 1900s
Other publishing houses in early 1900s were: Harper Brothers, Scribner's, Appletons, Lothrops, and the Century (Rogers, p. 71).