Frank Baum’s famous children’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was first published on May 17, 1900. Today it is more commonly known under the shortened title, The Wizard of Oz.
The first edition had a printing of 10,000 copies and was sold in advance of the publication date of September 1, 1900. On May 17, 1900, the first copy came off the press; Baum assembled it by hand and presented it to his sister, Mary Louise Baum Brewster. The public saw it for the first time at a book fair at the Palmer House in Chicago, July 5–20. Its copyright was registered on August 1; full distribution followed in September.[2] By October 1900, it had already sold out and the second edition of 15,000 copies was nearly depleted.[3]
By 1938, more than one million copies of the book had been printed.[6] By 1956, sales had grown to three million copies.
Baum dedicated the book “to my good friend & comrade, My Wife”, Maud Gage Baum.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, children’s book written by L. Frank Baum and first published in 1900. A modern fairy tale with a distinctly American setting, a delightfully levelheaded and assertive heroine, and engaging fantasy characters, the story was enormously popular and became a classic of children’s literature. However, by the late 20th century the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz had become more familiar than the book on which it was based.
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