SORRY, THIS ITEM HAS BEEN SOLD

Book Description: R. H. Russell, NY, 1900. Cloth. Book Condition: Good. Frank Ver Beck (illustrator). 1st UK Edition, 1st Issue. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. "A New Wonderland-Being the first account ever printed of the Beautiful Valley, and the wonderful Adventures of its Inhabitants" by L. Frank Baum with pictures (in color 16 plates and black and white drawings) by Frank VerBeck. A Laugh Book for Children of All Ages. Published in New York by R. H. Russell in 1900. Green cloth stamped in brown and green with pictorial label. 16 two-color plates (including the title page) with many more illustrations throughout the interior of the book. Please see the photos. The book is very good with some loose signatures and with some detachments of signatures and some plates in the book. There are several places in the book which show tape shadowing (please see the photos) where someone tried to fix the book. These are not major, but should be taken to a professional paper archivist and book binder to bring the book back to archival status. The hinges are broken as shown. The book does have the pictorial endpapers as shown, making this a first state of the first edition. Overall the book is intact and readable and quite remarkably has survived all these years being large and fragile. The size of the book is 8-3/4" by 10-3/4". The book is a happy and entertaining fantasy about the inhabitants of the Valley of Phunnyland told in a series of inter-related short stories. This book was actually the first children's book Baum ever wrote having been written in the early part of 1896 before "Mother Goose in Prose." It was not published until 1900 due to several publishing issues which arose prior to that time. Copies of this book are very rare in the first state and additionally having the frontis plate present which usually is missing when a copy is encountered. The frontis plate in the copy offered here is present but detached from the signatures as shown. Futher, the highpoint of the book is that is it inscribed by L. Frank Baum to a little boy and dated for Christmas 1900 and signed "The Baums." A very desirable book to have inscribed and dated this early considering the title of the book. There are also several characters in this book that are definite precursors to some characters in "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" - I have provided a couple of photos here to show this. Email for photos. Inscribed By Author. Bookseller Inventory # 010814