The Book Collector's Guide to L. Frank Baum and Oz

“This book about Baum and Oz is fantastic.
As a citizen of Oz I heartily recommend it. ”
----Ray Bradbury

I recently had the pleasure to examine a new collector's guide that, I must say, surely sets a standard for this kind of reference - Paul R. Bienvenue and Robert E. Schmidt's The Book Collector’s Guide to L. Frank Baum and Oz.
Those of you who have had some experience with early Oz books already know that, thanks to their publishing history, the complexities are considerable. Such complexities can and often are maddening to booksellers, but often this is precisely what appeals to collectors. It broadens and extends the hunt - and the hunt, after all, is what it's all about.
Speaking of complexities, this brings me back to Bienvenue and Schmidt. In their Guide, they clarify and simplify the identification process to an extent I've never encountered in a bookselling reference. The approach includes using a format called top-down classification. After giving a detailed description of the book in question, the components are listed followed by their variants in the following order (which more or less replicates the order in which you would encounter them, the exception being the dust jacket, which is placed in the final position because one is rarely encountered): cover, endpapers, text, plates and dust jacket.
With book in hand, you work your way down. If the cover matches what you have, you move to the endpapers. If the endpapers don't match, you skip the remaining components and move to a description of the next printing, start with the cover again, and so on, until you reach your destination, where everything matches. Along the way, both essential (to identification) and non-essential information appears, with the essential in bold typeface. This accelerates the process by allowing you to immediately skip over material that isn't necessary to confirm a printing state. Also, if there are issue points that are difficult to explain, illustrations are provided to save the day. And the illustrations hardly stop there. Color photographs, harvested from important collections, are included for every major variant cover and many of the rare original dust jackets. What's more, all of Baum's work and the Oz books of his five "official" successors are featured, including Baum's non-Oz and pseudonymous books - the first time this has been accomplished in a single volume. Another first: when applicable, there are descriptions of later printings that possess features of interest to collectors.
In addition to identification tools there is much supplementary gold here - essays introducing each book, and even a detailed discussion of editions, printings, states and issues. No Oz collector can afford not to understand these terms cold. Finally, I can't close this review without mentioning that this book is beautifully produced. For the reasons cited above and more, I see no reason why this guide shouldn't become the standard reference for L. Frank Baum. Those of you who have been previously consulting Bibliographia Oziana for your needs and are perhaps concerned that this guide more or less duplicates its contents need not be concerned at all. This is a significant addition to Oz scholarship.
------Craig Stark, Editor, BookThink.com, #134, 18 May 2009

Paul Bienvenue, with the assistance of Bob Schmidt, has produced a remarkable reference book that will serve collectors, booksellers, and libraries extremely well. His insightful essays on the works of L. Frank Baum and the later authors who added to America’s very own fantasy series, the marvelous Oz books, expand our appreciation of Baum and his successors. In addition, The Book Collector’s Guide to L. Frank Baum and Oz will introduce countless readers to Baum s other work. Baum, who was a surprisingly prolific writer during a brief span of just over twenty years, left a literary legacy that has been far less well known than his Oz books. Those who encounter the Guide will find that this beautifully illustrated book presents them with an enticing sense of Baum’s truly impressive achievements. The descriptive details in the Guide will help all from the most casual to the most advanced collectors tell at a glance what variant of book has been encountered. Because it provides just what a collector really needs to know about the Baum and Oz books, the Guide is accessible in a way that more formal bibliography often is not. But more than that, the book is simply a visual and descriptive feast that will reward browsing, helping to call to the mind of the reader what a rich and colorful body of books was created by Baum and the authors who carried on the Oz series after his death.
------Peter E. Hanff, Co-author of Bibliographia Oziana and Bibliography Editor for The Baum Bugle

Quite simply, The Book Collector’s Guide to L. Frank Baum and Oz is the most comprehensive and accurate book on these subjects ever published. Paul Bienvenue knows the Baum and Oz books as almost no one else does. Written with encyclopedic knowledge and wry humor, this is the guide that collectors and dealers have needed for a long time. His system is clear and easy to use; a novice or experienced collector can quickly identify different editions and printings. But the usefulness of this book goes much further. With informative detail and biographic information, Bienvenue provides backgrounds and publishing histories to these books as well as illustrations relating to Baum and of all the rare and important editions. Beautifully designed and laid out, The Book Collector’s Guide to L. Frank Baum and Oz is a work of art itself -- a collectable item!
------Michael O. Riley, author of Oz and Beyond: The Fantasy World of L. Frank Baum