Description
The first edition, second state of Mother Goose in Prose by L. Frank Baum, his first children’s book and the author’s first collaboration with Maxfield Parrish.
Quarto, [4], 265pp, [8]. Olive cloth boards, pictorial illustrations on cover, title embossed on spine. This is the second issue of Mother Goose, with the colophon on page [267] and 3 flyleaves after colophon. Previous ownership stamp on front endpaper, ownership note on rear endpaper.
Complete with 12 illustrations, including frontispiece. Archival repairs to Plate 7, with tissue repair to clipped corner. Small tissue repair to title page, front hinge reinforced. Solid text block, generally clean text throughout. Housed in custom clamshell, title stamped in gilt on spine. (Bienvenue & Schmidt, 159)
The final story in this volume, “Little Bun Rabbit,” features the first appearance of Dorothy, a girl who can speak to animals. This character later became Dorothy Gale of Baum’s beloved work, The Wizard of Oz.
