Colophon

Colophon

The Land of Oz is a printed book, and the colophon is not located at the end of the book, but rather in the front of the book. The colophon includes everyone/place that was involved in the production of the book. The author's name L. Frank Baum, The illustrator John R. Neill, the publishing company The Reilly & Lee Co., the place of publication is Chicago, the comedians from the play version of The Wizard of Oz are mentioned as Montgomery and Stone, and the previous book title The Wizard of Oz is mentioned. The author's note includes the children who inspired Baum to continue to expand on characters and write another Oz story. These children can be included as part of the colophon. This is a record of information that highlights young readership of the 1900s. The fact that many children enjoyed Baum's stories suggests that there was a need for fantasy stories in America.

Each colophon is decorated by a boxed outline, which helps highlight the importance of the information. The copyright date is decorated using ink and pen, but the decorations include what appears to be a wallpaper designer, and small babies wearing glasses/goggles?. The babies have wet hands, and are playing with some stuff on the floor They look as if they are helping the wall designer post the advertisement for Baum's copyright date, but they are not dressed as a child would dress for cleaning.  The children look prosperous, as they are wearing sailor dresses. One baby/toddler is reaching into a bucket, which could be water. The adult man is looking up at the sign, (including the copyright date and authors name) and is holding a brush. 

On the author's note, there is an older child reading paper and sitting on top of mounds of letters. There is ink spilled below the page. This highlights the amount of letters that Baum must have received from children asking for him to continue writing stories. In the dedication page, is a pen-and-ink drawing of the scarecrow and the tin woodsman, played by two comedians David C. Montgomery and Fred Stone. This is showing simple gratitude from Baum, for their acting in the stage play of the Wizard of Oz. Why did only these two actors get a dedication from Baum? What about Dorothy's actress, or the cowardly lion? Baum's dedication page only focusing on Tin Woodsman and Sacrecrow could be a marketing strategy. Since the sequel focuses on the Tinman and Sacrecrow's further exploration, having them in the opening pages would set up the story.