Lyman Baum

May 15, 1856 (age 62)

Chittenango, Madison County, New York, United States

At twenty-four Frank Baum began newspaper reporting and 1888-90 was editor of the Dakota Pioneer, at Aberdeen, South Dakota. In 1897 he became editor of the Chicago Show Window, a periodical for window decorators which he edited until 1902. He had dallied with poetry and prose for some years, and had published a little. In 1899, in collaboration with an artist, W. W. Denslow, he prepared the draft of a book called Father Goose: His Book. It was an instant success, selling 90, 000 copies in ninety days. This was a great stimulus to Baum, who had been laboring to support a large family on a small income. F. K. Reilly, the publisher, became Baum's friend and adviser; and when Baum read to him the first draft of his Wizard of Oz, Reilly immediately suggested that he had the basis of a stage production. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published in 1900, and in 1901 the play was produced in Chicago, raising Fred Stone and Dave Montgomery, two obscure vaudeville performers, to stardom over night. After the success of the play Baum went abroad for several months, doing much writing in Italy and Sicily. Upon his return he moved to Pasadena, California, where he built a home to his liking. One of its interesting features was an enormous birdcage in the flower garden. The cage contained scores of song birds. He liked to write in his garden. Besides several miscellaneous items Baum published two novels, The Fate of a Clown (1905) and Daughters of Destiny (1906), issued over the nom de plume of "Schuyler Staunton, " six books for boys under the pen name of "Floyd Akers, " and twenty-four books for girls under the name of "Edith Van Dyne. " These books are of no literary value, but were popular for a time, and brought Baum considerable money. The fourteen Wizard of Oz stories will perhaps have a permanent place among children's books. The most typical are The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Woggle-Bug Book, and The Tik-Tok Man of Oz. Eight of Baum's stories were dramatized and produced. He died at his home in Hollywood, California.

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Works

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The Emerald City of Oz

(This book is one of the classic book of all time.)

Life and Adventures of Santa Claus

The Magic of Oz (Oz Series Book 13)

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (AmazonClassics Edition)

Rinkitink in Oz (Oz Series Book 10)

Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz

(When Dorothy recovered her senses they were still falling...)

The Sea Fairies

American Fairy Tales (Best Navigation, Active TOC)(Prometheus Classics)

(This book contains now several HTML tables of contents th...)

Sky Island

(Lyman Frank Baum (May 15, 1856 – May 6, 1919) is one of A...)

The Tin Woodman of Oz (Oz Series Book 12)

The Marvelous Land of Oz (Oz series Book 2)

Lyman Frank Baum

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dramatist writer

Background

Lyman Frank Baum was born on May 15, 1856, in Chittenango, New York, the son of Benjamin Ward and Cynthia (Stanton) Baum. His childhood and early manhood were uneventful.

Education

Frank Baum studied at an academy in Syracuse, New York.

Career

At twenty-four Frank Baum began newspaper reporting and 1888-90 was editor of the Dakota Pioneer, at Aberdeen, South Dakota. In 1897 he became editor of the Chicago Show Window, a periodical for window decorators which he edited until 1902. He had dallied with poetry and prose for some years, and had published a little. In 1899, in collaboration with an artist, W. W. Denslow, he prepared the draft of a book called Father Goose: His Book. It was an instant success, selling 90, 000 copies in ninety days. This was a great stimulus to Baum, who had been laboring to support a large family on a small income. F. K. Reilly, the publisher, became Baum's friend and adviser; and when Baum read to him the first draft of his Wizard of Oz, Reilly immediately suggested that he had the basis of a stage production.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published in 1900, and in 1901 the play was produced in Chicago, raising Fred Stone and Dave Montgomery, two obscure vaudeville performers, to stardom over night. After the success of the play Baum went abroad for several months, doing much writing in Italy and Sicily. Upon his return he moved to Pasadena, California, where he built a home to his liking. One of its interesting features was an enormous birdcage in the flower garden. The cage contained scores of song birds. He liked to write in his garden.

Besides several miscellaneous items Baum published two novels, The Fate of a Clown (1905) and Daughters of Destiny (1906), issued over the nom de plume of "Schuyler Staunton, " six books for boys under the pen name of "Floyd Akers, " and twenty-four books for girls under the name of "Edith Van Dyne. " These books are of no literary value, but were popular for a time, and brought Baum considerable money. The fourteen Wizard of Oz stories will perhaps have a permanent place among children's books. The most typical are The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Woggle-Bug Book, and The Tik-Tok Man of Oz. Eight of Baum's stories were dramatized and produced. He died at his home in Hollywood, California.

Achievements

Frank Baum is well-known for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its sequels. During his career Frank Baum wrote a total of 14 novels in the Oz series, plus 41 other novels, 83 short stories, over 200 poems, and at least 42 scripts. Baum's works include: The Boy Fortune Hunters in Egypt (1908); The Boy Fortune Hunters in the South Seas (1911); Queen Zixi of Ix (1905); The Fate of a Crown (1905); Sam Steele's Adventures on Land and Sea (1906); Daughters of Destiny (1906); The Last Egyptian (1907); The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900); The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904); Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz (1905); The Woggle-Bug Book (1905); Ozma of Oz (1907); Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz (1908); The Road to Oz (1909); The Emerald City of Oz (1910); The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1913); Little Wizard Stories of Oz (1913); Tik-Tok of Oz (1914); The Scarecrow of Oz (1915); Rinkitink in Oz (1916); The Lost Princess of Oz (1917); The Tin Woodman of Oz (1918); The Magic of Oz (1919); Glinda of Oz (1920), etc.