The Road to Oz

1909, two copies, one a paperback Rand McNally, the other a hardcover Reilly & Lee, both undated but purchased in the mid-1970s
L. Frank Baum
Illustrated by John R. Neill
The Road to Oz
Paperback $1.95, hardcover $3.00
Paperback stained with bent covers, hardcover pretty good condition
C+

This is possibly Baum's weakest Oz book.  The journey on the road to Oz is mostly forgettable.  Foxville and Dunkiton are among the more boring "animal" lands.  The Scoodlers are the highlight, sort of like The Hammerheads in Wizard, but their heads are detachable.  Neill has fun decorating them with things like clubs and spades, pawnbrokers' balls and symbols of currency.


All three of Dorothy's traveling companions come off better in other books.  The Shaggy Man is wittier later, and he won't set off Stranger Danger vibes.  (As a child, it bothered me less that Dorothy goes wandering off with a stranger, since she makes a habit of that, than that he puts Toto in his pocket to guard the apples he's stolen.)  Button-Bright will have more to say than, "Don't know."  And even Polychrome will be a more developed personality, although I was fond enough of her after this book to name my calico kitten after her.


Since this is the book where Baum refers to just about every one of his non-Oz books to that point (no sign of the Magical Monarch of Mo), Neill has a chance to draw John Dough, Santa Claus, the Queen of Merryland, and so on.  I think his Zixi is as good as Richardson's, better facially but not as beautifully gowned.  Neill also gets his first try at Toto, and as I said, I prefer Denslow's.  There is a great picture of Dorothy and Toto looking at tin statues of themselves as they "first appeared in the Land of Oz."  (Look for Denslow's hippocampi on the pedestals.)  As always, Neill shines with the castles and palaces, not just the Tin Woodman's tin castle, but the glimpses of Ozma's palace, particularly the one of Jellia Jamb running down the grand front steps to greet Dorothy.  Neill's style is less detailed than in Land, but once again there are some illustrations worth poring over.  (The ones in Ozma and DatW are plainer.)


We get to Oz at an earlier point than in the third and fourth books, just past halfway, which is probably just as well.  Most of the second half is taken up with Ozma's birthday party, including the anticipation.  Ozma has the same birthday as my ex-husband, August 21st, and as I mentioned earlier, you can make a chronology using clues from the "tombstones" for Jack's pumpkin-heads.


This is the first Oz book to set up the utopian features that will be expanded on later, although I won't tag the series with "utopias" just yet, since it's not fully integrated.  The Tin Woodman, who in the second book was going to make the temporarily money-stuffed Scarecrow his Royal Treasurer, and who in the third book owed six weeks of back pay to one of the soldiers, is now horrified by the idea of "using money to buy things with, instead of love and kindness and the desire to please one another."  Also, when Dorothy thinks Jack has died, she says, "But I thought nobody ever died in Oz," even though her kitten was threatened with the death penalty nine times, as recently as the previous book.  It's as if Baum has switched the rules on us and then pretends that they've always been like this.  Maybe Ozma, as the rightful ruler, had to be on her throne long enough for the rules to change, and maybe Baum/Ozma/Glinda/??? has again Orwellianly rewritten history and hopes we won't notice.

Well, it probably wasn't Glinda.  In the big birthday parade, the nameless King of the Quadlings marches with Nick and the other quadrant-rulers, but Glinda is marching with the Good Witch of the North.  I can't remember when Glinda will get her throne back, but I assure you that when she does, there'll be no mention of her ever being off it.

I've decided to keep the paperback copy, even though it's in worse condition, because the hardcover doesn't haven't any outside illustrations, except the spine.  The paperback has the visit to Jack's house on the front cover, and Ozma and Dorothy almost kissing on the back.  (It's more innocent than it sounds.)