The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

First edition of the most beloved of all American fairy tales, a rare presentation copy inscribed by the illustrator W. W. Denslow. Quarto, original full pictorial cloth stamped in green and red, illustrated by Denslow throughout and with twenty-four full-page color plates including the pictorial title. First edition, in the first state of the text, a mixed state of the plates, and the second state of the binding. Presentation copy, inscribed by the illustrator on the front free endpaper with his distinctive seahorse monogram, “To Mrs. Frank Pixley, with sincere regards of W. W. Denslow, July 16th 1901.” The recipient is very likely Isabel Pixley, wife of the playwright Frank S. Pixley, who edited the Chicago Times-Herald from 1899 to 1902, a paper for which Denslow worked as an illustrator and in which Baum published his early writing, placing this copy squarely within the Chicago circle from which Oz emerged.  The first state of the text shows the misprints “low wail” on page 14, “peices” on page 81, and “While Tin Woodman” on page 271, together with the eleven-line colophon, and the binding is the second state, with the publisher’s imprint at the foot of the spine printed in red sans-serif type. In good condition with the first plate loose and chipped, a few closed marginal tears, and the original cloth faintly toned. Hanff and Greene I.1 (binding variant B). From the library of Mrs. Frank Pixley, with Denslow’s presentation inscription dated 16 July 1901 and later gift inscriptions to the front free endpaper. An exceptional association copy of the book that created an American mythology. Presentation copies inscribed by Denslow are of the greatest rarity, with only four others to appearing at auction in the 126 years since publication.