How "Dot and Tot" ended it

In 1901, Baum and Denslow produced their third major collaboration. (I have not counted The Songs of Father Goose as I consider this a spin-off of Father Goose: His Book.) When it came to creating children's books, it was their last collaboration.

If you asked anyone to name Baum's best fantasies, chances are they would not mention Dot and Tot of Merryland. While it's an enjoyable fantasy, its lack of an antagonist and the fact that it's only travelogue are the book's biggest weaknesses.

But in this series of books by Baum and Denslow, it wasn't just Baum's text that made the book, the item that people would buy. While Dot and Tot did sell, it wasn't a comparable success to Father Goose: His Book or The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

So, how did the book look? Well, before we begin, I'd better tell you that my copy of the book with Denslow's illustrations is not an original edition. It's an early Bobbs-Merrill reprint that used green ink instead of a light rusty color. It's similar enough, but the printing (look at the Queen's face above) may not have been quite on register. (From what I've seen, George Hill's company was really good about that.) I'm also running these through Photoshop. As such, the colors look bolder than they do in the book.

The above seven pages are typical of the illustrations throughout the book. While Denslow does fine work, the main use of color was printing the illustrations in three colors: black, green (a rusty color in the original edition) and red. There were no color plates.

The main issue is that Father Goose: His Book had an innovative design. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz had an innovative design. Both of these books inspired new formats for children's books. Dot and Tot of Merryland did not. The color design was too similar to Oz, and since it used three inks, that made the chance for misalignment of the plates higher than Oz. And it didn't help that Baum was turning out better fantasies in his other two 1901 titles: American Fairy Tales and The Master Key.

The problem with the illustrations is that if they were reproduced in black and white (just about the only way it could be cost-effectively reproduced), the effect of the different colors would be spoiled, and only recently has the technology arrived that could separate the color signatures from each other. However, no one has yet attempted a reprint with the original Denslow illustrations. Books of Wonder issued a new edition in the early 1990s with new illustrations by Donald Abbot, which are all right, but Denslow's are much more attractive. It was much easier to re-illustrate the book than reproduce the original pictures. Google offers an on-demand reprint of the version they have in their system, but I would not expect a very good looking book. Any other editions in print only use the text, unless someone takes the time and effort to make sure the pictures reproduce well.

While Dot and Tot is a fun and handsome book on its own, when compared to the previous books in the Baum/Denslow partnership (and just about all of Baum's other fantasies), it is sadly lacking. And even sadder, that is where the tradition of this legendary author and a fantastic illustrator producing wonderful children's books together ends.

Baum decided to refocus. Putting out multiple books a year was literally competing with himself, so beginning in 1902 and going on through 1910, only one book was published under the name "L. Frank Baum" a year. (The exception being The Woggle-Bug Book and Queen Zixi of Ix in 1905.) Later, Reilly & Britton would afford him the luxury of pseudonyms to sell more books without this issue.

Denslow was also looking into launching a solo career. The two realized that they really didn't need each other. As such, they parted ways, Baum turning out fantasies that would soon become the famous Oz books. Denslow produced a series of picture books that only recently came back into print thanks to Denslow's connection to Oz.

Baum and Denslow would later work together on The Wizard of Oz musical extravaganza, Baum writing the script and Denslow designing the costumes and sets, but the end result of that led to Baum vowing to never work with Denslow again when Denslow asked for a larger portion of the royalties. (To be fair, his production designs were likely used more than Baum's original script and Paul Tietjens' music.)

In 1904, Denslow used the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman of Oz to create a comic strip, Denslow's Scarecrow and Tin-Man, but I've told about that elsewhere. Baum regretted jointly copyrighting his books and characters with Denslow, and made sure to hold the copyright on his future work himself.

The Royal Podcast of Oz: L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz — Again!

Jared chats with Clayton Spinney and Sean Gates about the current status of their independent film L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Warning: brief discussion of Doctor Who.

As always, you can listen and download at the podcast site or use the player below!
       

   
   
Podcast Powered By Podbean
   

Outsiders from Oz feedback and reviews

Well, over a year ago, I published my first Oz book, Outsiders from Oz. Springing from a few loose ends I spotted in Baum's fantasies, it finally came to life as a 119-page book richly illustrated by a couple of Oz friends.

And of course, I wanted to know what people thought. If it's good, what did I do well? If it wasn't good, what could I work on? While I don't quite have that feedback, I think I have enough feedback to report on here. I've linked to reviews, and quoted some feedback that was either privately sent to me or no longer available to see publicly.

"It is beautiful, and I am enjoying it a lot so far. It reminds of when I read the (original Oz) books as a child, even the map!! Great job!" - Ronpur at the Who North America forums

Review by Nathan DeHoff: "I did quite like the book, which was an adventure of mostly familiar Oz characters in lands outside Oz itself."

Review by Frank Kunze: "Jared... peppers in various pieces of background lore as needed and in an efficient manner which doesn't slow the pacing of the story... I found Outsiders from Oz to be a relaxing and entertaining read. A lighthearted, yet quite interesting and creative fantasy story from a first time author who knows his subject matter well."

"Outsiders really IS one of the best Oz books published in the last several decades!" - Marcus Mebes

Review by Eric Gjovaag:  "...it's a good one! Like a lot of good Oz stories, there are multiple story threads that meet together at the end... It's a nicely constructed story, and it all hangs together well. More importantly, all of the old familiar Oz characters act just like they should. I heartily recommend this one!"

Why "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" sold

When we look at The Wonderful Wizard of Oz today, we often look at what made Baum's story work so well. While this is a perfectly valid assessment, it was only part of why the book became such a huge success. A big reason for its success comes from looking at the original edition of the book. (Or a reproduction thereof since not everyone can get their hands on an original.)

The way L. Frank Baum and W.W. Denslow designed the book was rather elaborate. Since the book was a novel and not a picture book like Father Goose: His Book, they found a new way to mix the text, illustrations and color.

The design involved multiple colored inks as well as black, not to mention twenty four color plates. There would be sections of the illustration printed in black and sections printed in color ink that would appear under the text. Furthermore, the color of the ink would change with each location of the story. A dull brown for Kansas:

Blue for the Munchkin Country:

Bright red for the poppy field:

Green for the Emerald City and the surrounding country:

A dark yellow for the Winkie Country:

A ruddy brown for the south country:

And red again for the domain of Glinda:

Not only was this an inventive use of color, it actually made color work with the storytelling, once again creating a union in color, text and illustration to create a lavish book for children. Not only was the story delightful, the way the book looked made it a popular item.

Denslow's illustrations are also to thank. Although his Dorothy doesn't look quite so girlish, she is not ugly and the rest of the characters are very charming. Denslow also doesn't draw the giant spider or the Wizard's form as a monstrous beast, and the Wicked Witch of the West has been given some comical details to soften her character. (The umbrella, eyepatch and pickaninny pigtails.)

No child would have nightmares from Oz. No chapter ends with a cruel beast or witch coming after Dorothy, and if there is bloodshed, it is not dwelled on. Denslow's pictures only help accentuate Baum's storytelling.

The Hill Company was once again hesitant to publish Oz, but Baum and Denslow decided to put their royalties from Father Goose: His Book into helping defray production costs, a gamble that paid off very well. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz remained in print until the Hill Company closed.

The plates and rights for Baum's books were bought up by the Bobbs-Merrill Company who issued a number of Baum's later books until Reilly & Britton came onto the scene. Following the success of The Wizard of Oz stage extravaganza, Bobbs-Merrill redesigned the book. It still used interior color and Denslow created some new artwork for it, including a new title page and endapers, but it was not quite as lavish as the original edition.

Perhaps the difference in design was why the original Bobbs-Merrill edition was called The New Wizard of Oz. Shortly after, Bobbs-Merrill changed the title to simply The Wizard of Oz, a name the book was published under for a very long time. In fact, it does not appear that the word Wonderful was added back to the title until after the book went into public domain.

Later editions of the Bobbs-Merrill Wizard of Oz became even simpler, interior color quickly being dropped to keep the cost of reprinting it low. Eventually, this led to the first re-illustrating by Evelyn Copelman, which opened the door to other artists creating new illustrations. While many fine artists have put their talents to Oz, none have matched the same charm Denslow produced when he and L. Frank Baum designed a novel for children that would never give them nightmares. Although John R. Neill would later succeed Denslow as illustrator for Oz and created amazing artwork, the fact remains that he never had the same relationship with Baum as Denslow did. While many have wished that Neill had re-illustrated Wizard, sometimes, I feel it is best that he left the book alone.

The original edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is indeed the most lavish the book had ever looked, and it is rather easy to contest that this is how author and illustrator wanted the book to look. The beautiful volume delighted many eyes in 1900 with the colorful pictures and a wonderful story. It was Denslow's success just as much as Baum's for creating such a great book.

The Characters of Oz — The Winged Monkeys

So the Wicked Witch took the Golden Cap from her cupboard and placed it upon her head. Then she stood upon her left foot and said slowly:
"Ep-pe, pep-pe, kak-ke!"
Next she stood upon her right foot and said:
"Hil-lo, hol-lo, hel-lo!"
After this she stood upon both feet and cried in a loud voice:
"Ziz-zy, zuz-zy, zik!"

Thanks to the famous MGM film, the Winged Monkeys of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz have become nightmare fuel for children and given birth to many horrific reinterpretations.

Which is very strange, because that's not how they were originally intended at all.

The Winged Monkeys appear in only one of the Famous Forty Oz books: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. They get a mention in the next book, but we'll get to that.

A long time before Dorothy arrived in Oz, the Winged Monkeys were a happy bunch of winged simians who lived and played in the Gillikin Country. One day, however, they offended a powerful sorceress named Gayelette by throwing her fiance Quelala into a river. Quelala asked her to spare their lives, and instead of killing them, Gayelette enchanted a golden cap studded with rubies and diamonds that the Winged Monkeys would be summoned by. Each wearer of the cap could command their services three times by reciting a charm written inside the cap.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz implies that Quelala used the Golden Cap once to tell the Monkeys to stay away from Gayelette as she didn't like to look at them, a service they were only too happy to render.

Somehow, the Golden Cap fell into the hands of the Wicked Witch of the West, who used it to make the Winkies her slaves and drive the Wizard out of the Winkie Country.

Her final use of the Golden Cap was a last ditch effort to destroy Dorothy and her friends, except the Lion, who would be taken to the Wicked Witch's castle to be made to work like a horse.

The Monkeys were able to do this, pulling out the Scarecrow's straw and hanging his clothes in a tall tree, and dropping the Tin Woodman onto sharp rocks where he became battered and dented. They were also able to subdue the Cowardly Lion and tie him up and carry him to the Witch's castle.

Dorothy, however, they would not harm because of the mark of the Good Witch on her forehead. They recognized it as "protected by the Power of Good, and that is greater than the Power of Evil." They instead took Dorothy and Toto to the Witch, explaining their case before leaving.

After the Wicked Witch's demise, Dorothy happened to find the Golden Cap and was later advised by the Queen of the Field Mice to use it to summon them to take her back to the Emerald City.

While waiting to see the Wizard again, Dorothy had to threaten to use the Cap to defy the Wizard. This threat worked. But Dorothy's second use was to ask them to take her back to Kansas, which they said they could not do. They explained that they did not belong in Kansas and could not cross the desert. This reason becomes quite clear in later Oz books. The Monkeys would have likely suffered from fatigue from flying so far, and the desert would provide no resting place.

Dorothy's last use is to have them carry her and her friends over the Hill of the Hammerheads and into the domain of Glinda. (Some adaptations shorten this easily by having them take them straight to Glinda's palace.)

Dorothy turns the Golden Cap over to Glinda in return for instructions on how to use the Silver Shoes. Glinda says that she'll use it to send the Scarecrow back to the Emerald City, the Tin Woodman to the Winkie Country and the Lion to the forest where he defeated a giant spider. She says that she will give the King of the Winged Monkeys the Golden Cap, ensuring their freedom forever.

Or did she? In The Marvelous Land of Oz, the Scarecrow mentions that Glinda now commands the services of the Winged Monkeys. What?

Perhaps the Scarecrow's mistaken. Or maybe they pledged their services willingly after Glinda freed them. Or maybe after Dorothy went home to Kansas, Glinda realized she could just summon the Winged Monkeys once and tell them to take Dorothy's friends to their homes. Or maybe she even realized that she could have a servant make the wishes and then keep the cap herself, to keep it from falling into evil hands again.

Maybe that's the story behind Glinda's odd crown that Neill drew her with... It's a modified Golden Cap!

There is a point I did realize about the Winged Monkeys. Apparently, only adult male Winged Monkeys were summoned by the cap. The female and child Monkeys are never mentioned, yet they must exist. And considering that the Winged Monkeys are often summoned to perform tasks of strength, children would be excused from such tasks anyway. As for women, while capable of completing these tasks, it seems likely that they were excused in case any or all serving Monkeys would be injured critically. (Someone needs to care for the young. Remember that Gayelette made the charm and likely did not have an advanced way of thinking.) And likely elderly Monkeys are also excused.


The Golden Cap commands the services of the Winged Monkeys, but when the charm is used, do the Monkeys have to fly all the way there or does the cap make them appear? Baum mentions that when the Wicked Witch uses the Cap that "the sky was darkened, and a low rumbling sound was heard in the air." This is not repeated when Dorothy uses the Cap, however.

I would go with the idea that the Cap makes the Monkeys appear close by the summoner. The extra effects of their summoning reflect the nature of the summoner. The Wicked Witch was evil, so her use of the Cap appeared ominous, while Dorothy's use of the Cap was only for innocent tasks. Who knows what happened when Quelala and (presumably) Glinda used the cap?

Extra bit of trivia: in Alexander Volkov's The Wizard of the Emerald City, Elli (his rewrite of Dorothy) and her friends realize that they could use the Golden Cap a dozen times between them. (Totoshka reminds them that the number should be fifteen.) No more than Elli's three uses actually happen, however.

Father Goose: His Book

So, Baum and W.W. Denslow were friends and decided to collaborate on a book of poetry for children. Then they decided not to just make a plain book of verse with illustrations, every page would contain pictures in color, Baum's verse being beautifully hand-lettered by their friend Ralph Fletcher Seymour, who would receive a lump sum for his services.

After assembling a publisher's dummy, the book was a hard sell to publishers. Such a lavish book for children was unheard of. Finally, Baum and Denslow considered publishing the book themselves, when finally the George Hill Company offered to take the project, provided Baum and Denslow help pay for production costs.

The investment was worth it, and Father Goose: His Book became the biggest selling children's book of 1899, going through a second printing by the year's end, making author and illustrator famous.

Father Goose: His Book wasn't just another children's book, it actually changed the concept of children's books. While highly illustrated books for children were not unheard of, such a lavish marriage of text, illustration and color was a new concept, one that would quickly become adopted. Much of Denslow's later output would be such books.

You would think that Father Goose would still be a popular and often reprinted book due to that, but no, after many editions by Hill and later the Bobbs-Merrill Company, the book was not reissued. The high use of color would reproduce badly if, say, Scholar's Facsimiles and Reprints had attempted it in black and white. A similar problem prevented smaller companies such as The International Wizard of Oz Club from reprinting it. As for the mainstream market, some of Baum's verse—innocent in its day—was no longer politically correct. As a result, while Father Goose became famous in its day, its verses quickly fell out of popularity and never reached the same classic status as the Mother Goose rhymes.

I once ventured to borrow Father Goose through interlibrary loan and wound up with a second edition for a few weeks. Although the spine was gone, the book still stood up after over a century. (This was about 2002.) I managed to make photocopies of it in black and white for future reference. Although I enjoyed looking at it, I was quite relieved when I returned the book to the library: the valuable old book was out of my hands and on its way back home.

Luckily in 2009, Marcus Mebes was able to use two copies of the book to scan and create a new print-on-demand edition through his Pumpernickel Pickle imprint on Lulu. He made it available in both color and black and white, both versions in hardcover and paperback, as well as a free PDF download. I was one of the first people to buy a copy, going for a color paperback edition.

Having seen an original Hill copy, I can tell that the new edition is reduced in size, but no details seem to be lost. The cover has been recolored to be quite striking, but all of the interior art is still in its original coloring, and there is an additional page showing the original cover and the endpaper artwork.

There are other editions that use only the text of Baum's poems, but as the book is historical for Denslow's work as well, I generally ignore their existence. Denslow was every bit as important to this project as Baum, and viewing it only for Baum's work is unfair.

Baum writes in his introduction:

There is a fascination in the combination of jingling verse and bright pictures that always appeals strongly to children. The ancient "Mother Goose Book" had these qualities, and for nearly two centuries the cadences of its rhymes have lingered in the memories of men and women who learned them in childhood.

The author and illustrator of "Father Goose" have had no intent to imitate or parody the famous verse and pictures of "Mother Goose." They own to having followed, in modern fashion, the plan of the book that pleased children ages ago--and still pleases them. These are newer jingles and pictures for children of to-day, and intended solely to supplement the nursery rhymes of our ancestors.

 But the reason for a Father Goose is made clear in the first verse, dripping with Baum humor:

Old Mother Goose became quite new,
And joined a Woman`s Club;
She left poor Father Goose at home
To care for Sis and Bub.

They called for stories by the score,
And laughed and cried to hear
All of the queer and merry songs
That in this book appear.

When Mother Goose at last returned
For her there was no use;
The goslings much preferred to hear
The tales of FATHER GOOSE.

 Baum introduces many fun characters in his verses: many children, the Goose who lived in Syracuse, Mr. Green, Mr. Jinks, and Mr. Hickory. Writing simple verses for children, Baum is at better form than he was in By the Candelabra's Glare. He even humorously retells the story of George Washington and the Cherry Tree, ending it with a twist in which young George chops down another cherry tree and admits to it to avoid another spanking, but his father administers it anyway and sells George's hatchet.

As mentioned, some of Baum's verses are not politically correct. Mentions of Aborigines, a Hindu girl, Aunt Dinah's rejection of a sailor because he lived in China once are all at odds with what we would let our children read today. Most infamous is the poem "The Little Nigger Boy." While the term was generally accepted as standard language at the time, it began as—and continues to be—a derogatory term. If it wasn't for the fact that Denslow clearly drew an African-American boy, it could have easily been changed to "The Little Foolish Boy" without harm to the verse. These seven verses, in the eyes of being politically correct, mar an otherwise fine book and were one of the reasons why it was out of print for so long. The odd thing is, it was actually rare for a children's book to depict such characters in 1899.

Denslow is also at fine form here. While Maud Baum once claimed that Denslow could not draw a child-like child, here he draws children much more successfully than he did in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Some aren't as good as others, though. Just about all of his characters seem funny and quaint. Surely not even the imposing Bandit or Captain Bing could give a child nightmares!

Even over a hundred years later, the appeal of Father Goose: His Book is still very evident. And it is very important to the history of Oz, because without it making Baum and Denslow a famous duo, we would probably not have had The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, at least, not as it first appeared.

• Free PDF edition
• Black and white paperback
• Black and white hardcover
• Color paperback
• Color hardcover
• Text of Baum's verse

By the Candelabra's Glare

L. Frank Baum wrote verse all of his life. In his earliest publishing endeavors, he wrote verse for the newspapers he printed himself as a child.

In 1898, Baum was living in Chicago and had made many connections with local businesses, particularly with his current publishing project: a magazine called The Show Window. He decided to ask for some favors and assemble his own book of verse that he would print himself.

In his basement, Baum set the type on his own printing press and turned out ninety-nine copies of By The Candelabra's Glare, his first book of original verse. The copies were given as gifts.

The book has proved particularly elusive due to its age and highly limited availability. In 1983, Scholar's Facsimiles and Reprints issued a photo-facsimile. This is now out of print and rather high priced. In 2008, Marcus Mebes issued a new edition through his Pumpernickel Pickle imprint. While I typically consider resetting the text a good thing, in this case, some might want to seek out a Scholar's edition to see Baum's original typesetting. However, if you want to read the poems and see all the pictures, Marcus' edition works fine.

I've read the book twice before, and there are some very memorable poems indeed, but on my latest re-read, I noticed that Baum really wasn't a great poet. Sometimes his attempts at rhyming don't work or feels cloying. This isn't that it's bad, but Baum's verse works much better in small doses.

Baum is humorous and light here. The foreword tells us how a book of poetry should have an "excuse" for it. The verses are in four sections: "Semi-Sentimental Verse," "Cycling Verse," "Unassorted Verse," and "Children's Verse."

"Semi-Sentimental Verse" deals with love and Baum's admiration of women and most of these are fairly sweet. "Cycling Verse" all involves bicycling, often using very humorous situations.

As suggested by the title, "Unassorted Verse" offers a grab bag of Baum's poetry. The first poem "Johnson" tells a story that Baum may have later expanded into an unpublished (and now lost) novel: a stranger comes to town, going only by "Johnson." When a baby is left in a burning house, Johnson sacrifices his own life to save it, and after he is buried and remembered as a hero, a detective comes to town asking about a murderer on the run. When his photograph is shown, they realize it was Johnson. If this was the case, the loss of the novel version is very sad.

Other verses in this section deal with the advancement of women in society, a true story about farmers on hard times and a couple of Baum's favorite things, told in his humorous fashion.

Likely one of the most controversial pieces is "The Heretic." Using a good-natured country type, Baum observes how "Each churchman 's pluggin' fer himself, An' cares fer nothin' more If he can only land at last Upon the golden shore." It concludes that "This selfish Christianity Ain't good enough fer me!" The so-called heretic doesn't see the point of Christianity from the people he sees who go to church. While some find a criticism of Christian beliefs offensive no matter the point, Baum's words are surprisingly yet accurate.

The final section "Children's Verse" is a prelude to Baum's first major book, Father Goose: His Book. Three of the verses reappear in altered form in Father Goose, and one of the non-Goose poems—"The Greedy Goldfish"—was a big prelude to Father Goose because of who illustrated it.

 
By the Candelabra's Glare featured the artwork of eight Chicago artists illustrating selected poems. "The Greedy Goldfish" (to the right) and the "semi-sentimental" "My Quandary" (above) were illustrated by one William Wallace Denslow, with whom Baum would soon enter a partnership, turning out Father Goose, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Dot and Tot of Merryland.

Perhaps the poetry of By the Candelabra's Glare will never be recognized as great American literature, but the raw personality of Baum comes through here. A fan of Oz who wants to know more about Baum should at least give a look and any fan of Baum's works should definitely read it. Even though the poetry isn't the best, you'd be hard pressed to not pick out a few favorites after a reading.

By the Candelabra's Glare can also be read online thanks to the efforts of Scott Andrew Hutchins and the preservation of Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.

Oz on Home Video updates

With a little over a week left until the home video release of Oz the Great and Powerful, a few new details have arisen that may affect what you want to buy.

In a change from previous digital copies, rather than a DVD with the digital copy on it in a scrambled mode, the Oz the Great and Powerful digital copy will be download only, meaning that the only discs in the case are playable discs. (A former announcement mentioned there would be two DVDs. This is not the case.)

As previously noted, the 3D Blu-Ray comes as a single disc, however, there is an insert containing an offer to send off for a 2D Blu-Ray. And, in a nice twist, at least the Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack will have a similar offer for the 3D version. The sendaway disc will cost $6.

If you look around, you can find coupons for various editions, or you can try price matching. (One person has claimed that they've found enough coupons that, when paired with price-matching, the Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack will cost them under $5.)

What I'm doing is getting the Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack and will send away for the 3D disc, since it will be available at a rather low cost.

• DVD edition
• Blu-Ray/DVD Combo pack
• Blu-Ray edition
• Blu-Ray 3D

EDIT: $7 off coupon here.



Also, while we're at it, it seems Minnie and the Wizard of Dizz will also be released June 11th, and it came to my attention that the Sci Fi Channel (because that's what it was then) mini-series Tin Man was re-released to DVD and Blu-Ray by its new distributor, Mill Creek Entertainment. The DVD is two discs, and it is unknown what special features are on it. The Blu-Ray, from a press release, has all the special features, but it is now on just one disc, meaning the video quality has likely been compressed more. Unless you really want to watch all of Tin Man without switching discs, if you have the previous Blu-Ray or you're good with your DVD, skip it.


There should be a press release by Warner Brothers soon about their new editions of MGM's The Wizard of Oz, when we should have a release date and full details.

The Characters of Oz — The Wicked Witches

 "Why should I do this for you?" asked Oz.
"Because you are strong and I am weak; because you are a Great Wizard and I am only a little girl."
"But you were strong enough to kill the Wicked Witch of the East," said Oz.
"That just happened," returned Dorothy simply; "I could not help it."
"Well," said the Head, "I will give you my answer. You have no right to expect me to send you back to Kansas unless you do something for me in return. In this country everyone must pay for everything he gets. If you wish me to use my magic power to send you home again you must do something for me first. Help me and I will help you."
"What must I do?" asked the girl.
"Kill the Wicked Witch of the West," answered Oz.
"But I cannot!" exclaimed Dorothy, greatly surprised.
"You killed the Witch of the East and you wear the silver shoes, which bear a powerful charm. There is now but one Wicked Witch left in all this land, and when you can tell me she is dead I will send you back to Kansas—but not before."

 And that was that. Dorothy was famous for killing the Wicked Witch of the East. It was, as she said, an accident.

As a result, the Wicked Witch of the East technically doesn't appear in the Famous Forty Oz books. However, people remember her.

The Munchkin Country appears to be flourishing when Dorothy arrives. The Munchkins she meets seem to be in good health. Whatever bondage the Wicked Witch of the East had, she made sure her people were taken care of. In The Tin Woodman of Oz, Ku-Klip mentions that he went to see her after he cut off a finger and she glued it back on the Meat Glue he later took for himself after she died.

However, she wasn't really a benevolent Witch. Let's not forget that getting out of the Munchkin Country was difficult. The yellow brick road was broken in three places (though I offered an explanation for one of them in my Lion story), and let's not forget that there's a deadly poppy field in the Munchkin Country. Basically, you could live happily under the Wicked Witch of the East, as long as you did what she wanted.

The Wicked Witch of the East appeared to have a humble dwelling. In The Tin Woodman of Oz, instead of a castle or mansion, she appears to have a standard house and one servant to do the housework. This, at the time it's focused on, was Nimmie Amee. In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, it's different and Nimmie lived with her mother who sold two sheep and cow to the Wicked Witch to cast a spell on a certain woodcutter. Most Oz fans typically go with Baum's revised story in Tin Woodman as it's simpler. (Apparently, his memory had rusted as well.)

The Wicked Witch of the East was certainly bloody, because instead of stopping Nick Chopper from loving Nimmie Amee by instantly transforming him into metal (or freezing his heart, or turning him into another form), she instead enchants his axe so it will cut off parts of his body. We know he gets them replaced by tin prosthetics, but in Tin Woodman, it says the Wicked Witch actually hacked his torso into pieces herself. Later, she does the same thing to Captain Fyter.

Tin Woodman also reveals what the Wicked Witch was doing out where Dorothy's house fell (it doesn't seem to be a heavily populated area). Ku-Klip says: "The old Witch was so provoked at the girl's tears that she beat Nimmie Amee with her crooked stick and then hobbled away to gather some magic herbs, with which she intended to transform the girl into an old hag, so that no one would again love her or care to marry her. It was while she was away on this errand that Dorothy's house fell on the Wicked Witch, and she turned to dust and blew away."

Whether or not the Wicked Witches were actually sisters, they may have been considered so due to how wicked they were.

While it seems the Munchkins were able to live comfortably as long as they didn't defy the Wicked Witch, the Wicked Witch of the West somehow enslaved a pack of wolves, a swarm of bees, a murder of crows, as well as somehow acquiring Quelala's Golden Cap to command the Winged Monkeys. We are also told that she had only one eye, but it was as powerful as a telescope, and she could see great distances away. (Adaptations have played with this: The Muppets' Wizard of Oz has a magic eye, while the MGM film gave her a crystal ball instead.)

When the Winkies fail her, we are told she "beat them well with a strap." She also seems to have the Winkies actively working for her, though Baum never tells us what exactly this work is. (The 1987 Oz anime television series revealed they were building a fortress.) Perhaps she was working on a way to defy the Wizard. Some fans also have the idea that she made no rain fall in her land, so maybe she had them work a machine of some sort that kept the rain away. Or if she did it with magic, perhaps they had to work hard to irrigate their crops.

The Wicked Witch at one point used the Golden Cap to drive the Wizard out of the Winkie Country. Perhaps he was trying to conquer her, or that was where he was based before he began construction on the Emerald City. She also conquered the Winkies with the cap, suggesting that she has either had the Cap a long time or her reign wasn't so recent.

Denslow gave the Witch an umbrella that Baum confirms in his text when she hits Toto with it after she has Dorothy captured. She doesn't seem to stray far from her home, though. Baum also tells us that she's afraid of the dark.

Now one thing the Wicked Witches definitely had in common: they were very, very old. Baum tells us that both were "dried up," and in the cases of both, when they met their demise, there was no body to bury. Shortly after Dorothy's house lands on the Wicked Witch of the East, her body crumbles to dust. Whatever magic was holding her together must have been something she needed to keep doing.

More famously, when the Wicked Witch of the West comes into contact with water, she dissolves, Baum describing it as "melting away like brown sugar." Her body is breaking down due to exposure to the moisture, each cell soaking up the water and pulling away from the rest of her body. It would be a horrible way to go.

However horrible these Wicked Witches were, everyone in Oz could breathe a sigh of relief when they were finally gone.

John — The new collectible book

Well, Marcus Mebes seems to be moving into creating collector's items with his small runs of little collectible books that he's hand bound reprinting an Oz or Oz-related story. These little books are rather handsome and I'm sure that in the coming years that they will become valuable collector's pieces.

His latest offering, John, is a recently-discovered L. Frank Baum short story that recently appeared in The Baum Bugle. It follows a few days in the life of farmhand John as he gets ready to start his own farm, when he has to put his plans on hold as someone comes on the scene, seemingly about to swindle his employers.

There are only ten copies of this edition. Marcus, with permission, used the art artist John Mundt provided for the printing in The Baum Bugle. The newspaper's original illustration was unusable, unfortunately. (I have seen a scan of it myself. It is entirely too dark.) Mundt redrew the illustration in plain line art which reproduces much better.

Right now, Marcus has one copy of John left, but future reprints are planned: the original illustrations of L. Frank Baum's The Tramp and the Baby will be reunited with the text at last, as well as future Mundt-illustrated Baum tales: They Played a New Hamlet, The Extravagance of Dan, The Suicide of Kiaros, and  The Loveridge Burglary.

If you're interested in getting the last copy of John or are interested in future titles (he may consider making more copies if people are willing to buy them), e-mail him at baringer@gmail.com.