Description
According to Baum’s conception, Oz is divided into four countries surrounded by desert: Munchkin Country, Winkie Country, Quadling Country and Gillikin Country. This map predates The Wizard of Oz movie starring Judy Garland, which was made in 1939, and is meant to accompany the books. Although the map shows Oz more broadly than the movie, it has a marker in Munchkin Country “where Dorothy’s house fell” and shows the “Road of Yellow Brick” leading in a straight line to the Emerald City, a green region in the center. The Wicked Witch of the West’s domain is noted in Winkie Country, and the Palace of Glinda the Good is in Quadling Country, near the cartouche lower center. The border is a bold red outline. Numerous other whimsically-named geographical features and characters pertain only to the books, such as the land of Oogaboo in the upper right corner; and locations such as Flutterbudget and the College of Prof. Wogglebug.
The first published map of Oz was printed in the endpapers of Tik-Tok of Oz (1914) and contains a cartographic curiosity: Winkie Country, where the Wicked Witch of the West lives, is in the east, as it is on this map. There are various theories to explain this. For example, some speculate that Baum’s original map was a glass slide created for a traveling lantern show that followed the convention of placing west to the left, but that when this map was copied for the book, it was viewed from the wrong side of the glass side, and thus reversed. This discrepancy was at first resolved by altering the compass rose with east on the left. On later maps, including the Map of the Marvelous Land of Oz offered here, as well as the 1932 version, the compass rose is reversed back to normal, apparently inconsistent with the eastern placement of Winkie Country.
L. Frank Baum (1856-1919) was an American author best known for his beloved Wizard of Oz series of books, beginning with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900). His fourteenth Oz book was published posthumously in 1920, but the series continued with several more books by other authors after Baum’s death.
Condition: Generally very good with the usual light toning, wear, handling. Vertical center fold as issued, and stronger than typically found on other examples of this map.
References:
Gjovaag, Eric. “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz List of Frequently Asked Questions.” Wizard of Oz. http://thewizardofoz.info/faq04.html#5 (24 June 2008).
