SAN FRANCISCO – On Thursday, Nov. 29, PBA Galleries will present the Craig Noble Collection of L. Frank Baum & the Wizard of Oz. Up for auction will be over 250 lots revolving around the world created by L. Frank Baum, from the marvels of Oz to his pseudonymous books for young people, and all that is related. Absentee and Internet live bidding is available through LiveAuctioneers.
The successors to Baum as chroniclers of Oz are well represented, with Oz and non-Oz books by Ruth Plumly Thompson, John R. Neill, Jack Snow and others, plus Oz illustrators such as W.W. Denslow and Dick Martin. Included are many books in rare dust jackets, inscribed books and ephemeral items. Gathered over a span of four decades by Craig Noble, seldom does a collection of this scope come on the market in a single auction.
Craig Noble began collecting Oz and Baum books when he received the “white edition” of The Wizard of Oz for his fourth birthday. Today’s collection represents the culmination of a lifelong passion. One of the highlights in this upcoming sale is the first edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the book that began the journey with Dorothy, Toto and their new friends ($2,000-$3,000).
The Patchwork Girl of Oz (below) is the seventh of the Oz books by Baum. This is a first edition, first state, and first binding in the rare first printing color pictorial dust jacket ($4,000-$6,000).
Some other work by L. Frank Baum will be in the sale. Sam Steele’s Adventures in Panama, was written by Baum under the pseudonym of Hugh Fitzgerald. This version is inscribed by Baum to his brother and signed as Fitzgerald ($8,000-$12,000). By the Candelabra’s Glare, privately printed and bound by Maum in a signed and numbered edition and illustrated by W.W. Denslow. This was their first collaboration ($6,000-$9,000).
PBA Galleries also has a rarity signed by Baum’s wife, Maud Gage Baum, the presentation copy of In Other Lands Than Ours. The first and only printing of Maud Baum’s letters from Europe issued for private circulation carries a $4,000-$6,000 estimate.
Additional highlights are W.W. Denslow’s The Pearl and the Pumpkin, the first 1904 first edition with 16 color plates, a presentation copy inscribed by the artist ($4,000-$6,000); The Wonder City of Oz, first edition inscribed and signed by the author and illustrator, John R. Neill ($2,000-$3,000); and two original oil paintings by Michael Herring used for the cover of the Del Ray paperback edition of The Giant Horse of Oz ($1,500-$2,500).
The sale will begin at 11 a.m. For more information contact the PBA Galleries at 415-989-2665 or pba@pbagalleries.com.
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