The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900)
Original Text by L. Frank Baum and Illustrations by W.W. Denslow
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/43936/43936-h/43936-h.htm
Project Gutenberg is a no cost, subscription free digital library accessible to all, providing over 70k public domain texts, including the preservation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in its original literary text by L. Frank Baum with illustrations by W.W. Denslow. This is how the world was introduced to ordinary Kansas farm girl -not the usual princess- Dorothy Gale as its proactive heroine and her fantastical adventure through the strange Land of Oz. Along the way, she meets the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Cowardly Lion as she is determined to find her way home and help her new friends, even conquering wicked witches and unveiling a humbug wizard. You may be surprised to find silver slippers as the original protective footwear on Dorothy’s feet, Glinda as the Good Witch of the South not North, and a whole second adventure to Glinda’s castle after the Wizard’s balloon flies away, all different or absent from the iconic MGM film. European fairytale conventions were intentionally abandoned and witches could even be good rulers as self-reliance, bravery, and democratic values took hold of Baum’s pen, promoting a new American voice. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is considered the first American fairy tale and is the only Oz book collaboration between L. Frank Baum and W.W. Denslow, Denslow later replaced with illustrator John R. Neill for the sequel and furthering series.
The Real Wizard of Oz: the life and times of L. Frank Baum
Biography by Rebecca Loncraine (2009)
https://search.worldcat.org/title/268795221
The Real Wizard of Oz is a more modern biographical exploration of L. Frank Baum, the original royal historian of the Land of Oz, which is what Baum referred to himself as rather than a writer or creator. The biographer Rebecca Loncraine paints the socio-political landscape of post Civil War America that Baum was born into, including the rise of the supernatural, electrical wonders, and the women’s rights movement his mother-in-law Matilda Joselyn Gage played a massive role in, all contributing to Baum's ravenous imagination. Baum was in his early 40s when he began working on what would become The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Loncraine shares how Baum’s patchwork past of odd jobs and living locations, including the American midwest, also contributed to the tapestry of Oz and the 14 book series he wrote until his death. The biography's subtitle is also a gentle nod to the subtitle of Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire (1995), whose anti-hero Elphaba’s name reflects L. Frank Baum’s initials sounded out together!
The Wizard of Oz and How it Grew
Critical Essay by Stephen Teller (2012)
The 1903 Broadway musical extravaganza The Wizard of Oz is both the first adaptation and first musical production of The Wonderful Wizard Oz, often forgotten now, and had even author L Frank Baum as the credited librettist alongside illustrator W.W. Denslow as the costume designer! This essay published in Oz scholarly journal The Baum Bugle show’s the evolution of the first stage production from the first 1901 draft that was both “a triumph and a challenge Baum could never repeat, though he tried and tried again” (Teller, 2012). This vaudevillian relic and product of its time diverges almost completely from the original children’s novel plot and characters, Toto even being replaced by a cow named Imogene! However, the 1939 MGM film would borrow one key element introduced by the extravaganza: snowfall as a remedy to the poppy field’s spell!