The Wishing Horse of Oz was published in 1935 by Reilly & Lee Co. in Chicago as the twenty-ninth book in the Oz series and the fifteenth written by Ruth Plumly Thompson. John R. Neill provided twelve full-color plates and numerous black-and-white illustrations throughout the 298-page volume .
This book holds a significant place in Oz publishing history as the last Oz title to feature color illustrations; due to cost-cutting measures by Reilly & Lee, all subsequent Oz books were published with only black-and-white illustrations . Only the first edition and the International Wizard of Oz Club edition (1990) contain the original color plates. The book also marked the point at which Thompson had written more Oz books than L. Frank Baum himself.
Unlike many earlier Oz titles, The Wishing Horse of Oz did not have its own endpaper illustrations; later editions borrowed a design from The Tin Woodman of Oz. The book, along with Thompson’s next four titles, was not renewed for copyright and has entered the public domain in 1963. Later reprint editions include a 1986 Random House paperback and a 1990 edition from the International Wizard of Oz Club.
Summary
This Oz mystery starts in the small, poor kingdom of Skampavia, where King Skamperoo wishes for a horse using enchanted emerald necklaces. When Chalk, a talking Horse from Oz, falls from the sky, Skamperoo decides the emeralds must be from the Emerald City, and decides to conquer all of Oz. He magically causes all the residents of Oz to forget their rightful rulers and accept him as their emperor instead. Only Dorothy and Pigasus, the flying pig, are able to remember Princess Ozma, the true ruler of Oz, and together they set out to rescue her. The mystery in this story is how to make the necklaces grant wishes; only the horse Chalk knows how to do this.
The Wishing Horse of Oz | First Edition Book Identification Guide
Please refer to the gallery for detailed images of binding(s) and dust jackets.
| Year | Title | Publisher | First edition/printing identification points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1935 | The Wishing Horse of Oz | Reilly & Lee Co., [1935] | First edition. Illustrated by John R. Neill, 297 pages. Textual points: Blank self-endpapers. Color plates: 12 full-color inserts, some bound in, some tipped in. Plates face title page (tipped in), and pages 48 and 65 (bound in), 96 (tipped in), 128 (tipped in), 160 and 177 (bound in), 192 (tipped in), 224 and 241 (bound in), 272 and 289 (bound in). The plates are coated only on the printed side. Binding: various colors of cloth have been reported including very dark green (both textured and untextured), greenish-gray (textured), light blue, medium blue, dark blue, lavender, coral, maroon (textured), dark red, and purplish-brown. Size of leaf: 9 by 6 5/8 inches. Thickness of volume: 1 1/2 inches.
Later copies lack color plates. This is the only Reilly & Lee Oz book that never had its own illustrated endpapers, although at least one late reprint contains pictorial endpapers from The Tin Woodman of Oz. |
The Wishing Horse of Oz | First Edition Dust Jacket Identification Guide
First edition binding(s) and various dust jacket printings identification.
References:
- Wikipedia
- Bibliographia Oziana – Haff, Greeme, Martin. 2002
