121 Years of Oz!

121 years ago, on this day in Oz history, May 17, 1900 - L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, with more than 100 colored illustrations & 24 color plates by W.W. Denslow, is published by the George M. Hill Company in Chicago, Illinois. Selling for $1.50, it becomes the best-selling children's book of 1900. In January 1901, George M. Hill completed printing the first edition, a total of 10,000 copies. It sold three million copies by the time it entered the public domain in 1956. It has since seen several reprints, most often under the title The Wizard of Oz, which is the title of the popular 1902 Broadway musical adaptation as well as the iconic 1939 MGM musical. The Library of Congress has declared it "America's greatest and best-loved homegrown fairytale”. #LFrankBaum #WWDenslow #TheWonderfulWizardOfOz