L. Frank Baum:
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

By Angela Voht

L. Frank Baum was born on the 15th of May in Chittennango, New York. The fabric of his life was inter-woven with a wealth of experiences from running various newspapers and magazines as a boy, to managing theaters and operas around Chicago in his twenties. He published a musical play and traveling film show, managed his own store and a local paper in South Dakota, and finally, worked for the Evening Post in Chicago, supplementing his reporter's income with work as a traveling salesman for a china company. It was during his travels as a salesman that he prepared for his reunions with his children by creating the ideas and characters for his stories.

We know him best, of course, as the prolific creator of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and the Oz series, but woe to the reader who stops there, for he or she would be sadly bereft of an epic list of books (81 titles in all) that clearly make Baum the most brilliant writer of books for children, teens and adults of the twentieth century.

Included in his impressive repertoire are forty books written under pen names such as Floyd Akers, Laura Bancroft, John Estes Cooke, Capt. Hugh Fitzgerald, Suzanne Metcalf, Schuyler Staunton and Edith van Dyne.

Baum died in 1919, ten days short of his 63rd birthday, leaving the world with a brilliantly diverse collection of new and used books for all ages.

Featured Items:

The Sea Fairies and Sky Island
First published in1911, The Sea Fairies is about the adventures of Trot and Cap'n Bill, and their encounters with the Merpeople. The adventures continue in Sky Island and both stories can be found as used books.
$7.95 - $1000.00

Mother Goose in Prose
With illustrations by Maxfield Parrish
In 1897, Baum took the classic nursery rhymes and added fantastical reason in these richly woven stories.
$7.95 - $8750.00

Books by L. Frank Baum under Pen Names and Anonymous

L. Frank Baum was a very prolific writer, producing many books other than the Oz series during his most productive years. Many of these were written under the pseudonyms of various women. The following lists the childrens books that were published under each of his pen names.

Anonymous

1908 The Last Egyptian: A Romance of the Nile

Floyd Akers

1908 The Boy Fortune Hunters in Alaska
1908 The Boy Fortune Hunters in Egypt
1908 The Boy Fortune Hunters in Panama
1909 The Boy Fortune Hunters in China
1910 The Boy Fortune Hunters in Yucatan
1911 The Boy Fortune Hunters in the South Seas

Laura Bancroft

1906 The Twinkle Tales (six small volumes)
* Bandit Jim Crow
* Mr. Woodchuck
* Prairie-Dog Town
* Prince Mud-Turtle
* Sugar-Loaf Mountain
* Twinkle's Enchantment
1907 Policeman Bluejay
1911 Babes in Birdland (reissue of Policeman Bluejay)
1911 Twinkle and Chubbins (single-volume edition of The Twinkle Tales)

John Estes Cooke

1907 Tamawaca Folks: A Summer Comedy

Capt. Hugh Fitzgerald

1906 Sam Steele's Adventures on Land and Sea
1907 Sam Steele's Adventures in Panama

Suzanne Metcalf

1906 Annabel: A Novel for Young Folks

Schuyler Staunton

1905 The Fate of a Crown
1906 Daughters of Destiny

Edith Van Dyne

1906 Aunt Jane's Nieces
1906 Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad
1908 Aunt Jane's Nieces at Millville
1909 Aunt Jane's Nieces at Work
1910 Aunt Jane's Nieces in Society
1911 Aunt Jane's Nieces and Uncle John
1911 The Flying Girl
1912 Aunt Jane's Nieces on Vacation
1912 The Flying Girl and Her Chum
1913 Aunt Jane's Nieces on the Ranch
1914 Aunt Jane's Nieces Out West
1915 Aunt Jane's Nieces in the Red Cross
1916 Mary Louise
1916 Mary Louise in the Country
1917 Mary Louise Solves a Mystery
1918 Aunt Jane's Nieces in the Red Cross (revised)
1918 Mary Louise and the Liberty Girls
1919 Mary Louise Adopts a Soldier

L. Frank Baum wrote many other children's books under both his own name and other names. The following are the other children's books he wrote under his own name.

1897 Mother Goose in Prose
1899 Father Goose: His Book
1900 The Army Alphabet
1900 The Navy Alphabet
1900 A New Wonderland
1900 The Songs of Father Goose
1901 American Fairy Tales
1901 The Master Key
1903 The Enchanted Island of Yew
1907 Father Goose's Year Book
1910 Juvenile Speaker
1911 Baum's Own Book for Children
1911 The Daring Twins
1912 Phoebe Daring
1916 The Snuggle Tales
1917 Babes in Birdland (republish of 1911 Laura Bancroft book)

Oz-Related Books by L. Frank Baum

Baum wrote an number of fairy tale books that are related to the Oz series. In fact, many of the characters in these books, as well as the locale of the make-believe lands they inhabit, appear in the Oz books. However, the Ozian scholars do not include these with the original Oz books, so they are listed separately here.

1900 A New Wonderland
1901 Dot and Tot of Merryland
1902 The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus
1903 The Magical Monarch of Mo
1905 Queen Zixi of Ix
1905 The Wogglebug Book
1906 John Dough and the Cherub
1911 The Sea Fairies
1912 Sky Island
1920 Oz-Man Tales

Oz Books by L. Frank Baum

There are fourteen books in the Wizard of Oz series by Baum, plus a book of short stories. The following lists these by date of first publication.

1900 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
1904 The Marvelous Land of Oz
1907 Ozma of Oz
1908 Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz
1909 The Road to Oz
1910 The Emerald City of Oz
1913 The Patchwork Girl of Oz
1914 Little Wizard Stories of Oz
1914 Tik-Tok of Oz
1915 The Scarecrow of Oz
1916 Rinkitink in Oz
1917 The Lost Princess of Oz
1918 The Tin Woodman of Oz
1919 The Magic of Oz
1920 Glinda of Oz