BAUM, L. FRANK Mother Goose in Prose. Frontispiece, pictorial title-page and plates by Maxfield Parrish. 4to, original pictorial cloth,

some wear at foot of spine, pictorial cover panels a little scratched, some soiling; front hinge starting, some erasures on endpapers, a few marginal stains. Chicago: Way and Williams, (1897) FIRST EDITION, FIRST STATE of the author's first published juvenile. PRESENTATION COPY INSCRIBED TO BAUM'S MOTHER on the front flyleaf, "To my first and best friend, My mother/I send this first copy I have received form the publishers of my first book. L. Frank Baum. Chicago, Nov. 15th 1897." The publication of this book, his first juvenile, established Baum as an author of children's books. THE PRESENT COPY, WARMLY INSCRIBED TO HIS MOTHER CYNTHIA STANTON BAUM, MUST RANK AMONG THE GREATEST OF BAUM ASSOCIATION COPIES. "Publication of Mother Goose in Prose in October, 1897, was the slender thread that would lead Baum out of the labyrinth of the Gilded Age. After following the false paths of actor, newspaperman, salesman, and frontier merchant, he at last held fast the clew that stretched to his goal. Henceforth he would make children happy" --Baum & Macfall, page 89. Swann/Schiller 4. LAID IN --Proof of the illustration from the book entitled "Three Wise Men of Gotham" SIGNED BY MAXFIELD PARRISH in pencil. Mother Goose in Prose is the first book with illustration by Maxfield Parrish. See Swann/Schiller 3.