The Giant Horse of Oz (1928) is the twenty-second in the series of Oz books created by L. Frank Baum and his successors, and the eighth written by Ruth Plumly Thompson. It was Illustrated by John R. Neill.
Summary
The tiny kingdom of the Ozure Isles, perched on five islands in Lake Orizon, surrounded by high mountains in a remote region of Munchkin Land, has little contact with the outside world—of Oz. The evil witch Mombi has turned her malice in the Ozure direction. After kidnapping Queen Orin, Mombi has left a fire-breathing lake monster named Quiberon in Lake Orizon to keep the natives prisoner. Even after Mombi was vanquished, Quiberon remains.
Conditions grow worse when Quiberon orders the Ozurites to kidnap a mortal maiden to keep him company. Since Oz is a fairyland, the only mortal maidens are three American girls living in the Emerald City: Dorothy Gale, Betsy Bobbin, and Tiny Trot. Two Ozurites respond to the crisis in two separate ways. The heroic Prince Philador escapes from the islands to seek the aid of the Good Witch of the North, whose name is Tattypoo. The unheroic Akbad, the Ozure Isles soothsayer, steals a pair of magic wings, flies to the Emerald City, and kidnaps Trot. He also accidentally kidnaps the Scarecrow and an animated statue called Benny (short for “public benefactor”) along with Trot.
In his search for Tattypoo, Prince Philador teams up with High Boy, a giant horse with telescoping legs, Herby the Medicine Man, an eighteenth-century doctor with a medicine chest in his own chest due to an incomplete disenchantment, and Jo King, a monarch with a sense of humor. Various adventures ensue, in strange locations like Cave City, and with even stranger beings like the Roundabouties and Shutterfaces. Eventually, matters are sorted out satisfactorily: the Wizard turns Quiberon into a great bronze and silver statue, and the good Witch Tattypoo is revealed to be the missing and amnesiac Queen Orin. She is restored to her family and kingdom. Trot becomes a princess of the Ozure Isles, welcome in their Sapphire City whenever she chooses to visit. By Ozma‘s decree, Jo King is made ruler of the entire Gillikin Country of Oz.
The Giant Horse of Oz First Edition Book Identification Points
Please refer to the gallery for detailed images of binding(s) and dust jackets.
| Year | Title | Publisher | First edition/printing identification points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1928 | The Giant Horse of Oz | Reilly & Lee Co., [1928] | First edition. Illustrated by John R. Neill, 281 pages. Textual points: Pictorial self-endpapers in black and white.* Pages 126 and 127 are printed in the correct order. Color plates: 12 full-color inserts, tipped in facing title page and pages 48, 64, 80, 128, 160, 192, 208, 224, 240, 248, 272. The plate stock is coated only on the printed side. The frontispiece has a misprint “Oniberon” for “Quiberon”. Binding: brick-red cloth, with pictorial paper label in colors. Spine imprint “Reilly | & Lee”. Size of leaf: 8 7/8 by 6 5/8 inches. Thickness of volume: 1 1/4 inches. A Canadian issue appeared with the imprint of the Copp, Clark Co., Limited, of Toronto. Except for the publisher’s imprint on the title page and spine, it is identical with the first American state.
Later copies, bound in the same color as the first state and in a darker brick-red cloth, correct the frontispiece misprint and have plates printed on stock coated on both sides; the order of pages 126 and 127 has been inverted. Around 1935, the color plates were discontinued. All copies examined without color plates have restored the correct order to pages 126- 127. |
The Giant Horse of Oz First Edition Dust Jacket Identification Points
First edition binding(s) and various dust jacket printings identification.
References:
- Wikipedia
- Bibliographia Oziana – Haff, Greeme, Martin. 2002
