History Literature / LandOfOz

The book has had 39 official sequels published by Reilly & Lee, with the originals generally being called "The Famous Forty", 13 of the sequels being written by Baum, and 35 books illustrated by John R. Neill. L. Frank Baum wrote the second book only to capitalize on the success of the stage version of ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz''. Reilly & Lee convinced him to write an additional four books, and Baum attempted to end the series after book six, only to be forced to return to the series three years later after some poor theater investments and poor sales on his other fantasy series starring the characters Trot and Cap'n Bill (who were later imported into the Oz books). He wrote a total of 14 books before his death in 1919. With L. Frank Baum's widow Maud Baum's blessing, the series was continued by five different authors (with Creator/RuthPlumlyThompson, the first to continue the series, eventually publishing more Oz books than even Baum). The books came out basically yearly until the output began to slow down in TheForties, after Thompson left the series and Neill's untimely passing. The last book was published in 1963, 63 years after the first book, with many unauthorised sequels and spinoffs coming afterward once the books began passing into the public domain, including a few by former authors of the Famous Forty, which some fans may consider at least as good as canon, but still unofficial. Here's a list of titles:

* ''[[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/55/55-h/55-h.htm The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]]'' (1900)
* ''[[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/54/54-h/54-h.htm The Marvelous Land of Oz]]'' (1904)
* ''[[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/486/486-h/486-h.htm Ozma of Oz]]'' (1907)
* ''[[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/420/420-h/420-h.htm Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz]]'' (1908)
* ''[[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/485/485-h/485-h.htm The Road to Oz]]'' (1909)
* ''[[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/517/517-h/517-h.htm The Emerald City of Oz]]'' (1910)
* ''[[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32094/32094-h/32094-h.htm The Patchwork Girl of Oz]]'' (1913)
* ''[[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/956/956-h/956-h.htm Tik-Tok of Oz]]'' (1914)
* ''[[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/957/957-h/957-h.htm The Scarecrow of Oz]]'' (1915)
* ''[[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/958/958-h/958-h.htm Rinkitink in Oz]]'' (1916)
* ''[[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24459/24459-h/24459-h.htm The Lost Princess of Oz]]'' (1917)
* ''[[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/960/960-h/960-h.htm The Tin Woodman of Oz]]'' (1918)
* ''[[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/419/419-h/419-h.htm The Magic of Oz]]'' (1919)
* ''[[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/961/961-h/961-h.htm Glinda of Oz]]'' (1920)

* ''[[https://www.gutenberg.org/files/30537/30537-h/30537-h.htm The Royal Book of Oz]]'' (1921)
* ''[[https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/53765/pg53765-images.html Kabumpo in Oz]]'' (1922)
* ''[[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/58765/58765-h/58765-h.htm The Cowardly Lion of Oz]]'' (1923)
* ''[[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/61681/61681-h/61681-h.htm Grampa in Oz]]'' (1924)
* ''[[https://www.gutenberg.org/files/65849/65849-h/65849-h.htm The Lost King of Oz]]'' (1925)
* ''[[https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70152/pg70152-images.html The Hungry Tiger of Oz]]'' (1926)
* ''[[https://gutenberg.org/cache/epub/71273/pg71273-images.html The Gnome King of Oz]]'' (1927)
* ''[[https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/73170/pg73170-images.html The Giant Horse of Oz]]'' (1928)
* ''Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz'' (1929)

* ''Ojo in Oz'' (1933)

* ''[[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/55851 The Wishing Horse of Oz]]'' (1935)
* ''[[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/56073 Captain Salt in Oz]]'' (1936)
* ''[[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/56079 Handy Mandy in Oz]]'' (1937)
* ''[[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/56085 The Silver Princess in Oz]]'' (1938)
* ''[[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/55806 Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz]]'' (1939)

* ''[[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/56555 The Magical Mimics in Oz]]'' (1946)
* ''[[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/56683 The Shaggy Man of Oz]]'' (1949)

* PumpkinPerson: The series has a rare ''non''-evil version with Jack Pumpkinhead, who is introduced in ''Literature/TheMarvelousLandOfOz'' and shows up in several of the later Oz books (eventually getting one named after him: ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Pumpkinhead_of_Oz Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz]]''), as well as appearing as a character in ''Film/ReturnToOz''. He is basically a wooden scarecrow with a carved pumpkin head brought to life by a magic powder. His pumpkin heads eventually rot, so he keeps a pumpkin patch to replenish them, and Ozma carves him a new face (or he does it himself.) The old heads are buried in a graveyard at his house.

* ''The Giant Horse of Oz'' (1928)

* FoodPills: Created by Professor Woggle-Bug. The books actually avert most of usual tropes - the pills can serve as emergency rations, but attempts to replace regular meals with them were stopped. Violently.

The first 21 books are now public domain in the United States. With the expiration of the 1998 Copyright Term Extension Act, ''The Cowardly Lion of Oz'' entered the US public domain in 2019, and the next book, ''Grampa in Oz'', entered public domain in 2020. This will continue yearly unless another copyright extension law is passed. Thompson's final five books entered the public domain decades ago when the publisher failed to renew their copyright; this is also true of both of Jack Snow's books. Books that are still under copyright can be significantly harder to track down, with many of them being out of print.

* ''The Gnome King of Oz'' (1927)

* InconsistentSpelling: Whether the BigBad's name is "The Nome King" or "The Gnome King" generally depends on the author.

* ''The Hungry Tiger of Oz'' (1926) – not yet uploaded to Project Gutenberg despite being public domain in the US

* MagicAIsMagicA: Both averted and played straight. Although magical ''characters'' like Glinda and the Wizard display NewPowersAsThePlotDemands, most magical ''artifacts'' in the series have clearly defined rules and limited powers, as opposed to being GreenRocks or a GreenLanternRing. Notable examples include the Golden Cap from the first book, Ozma's Magic Picture, Glinda's Book of Records, and the Powder of Life. The Nome King's Magic Belt is probably the biggest exception.

* BalefulPolymorph: A favorite trope of Baum's, this happens to someone almost once per book. The Nome King uses the Magic Belt, and later his own magical powers, to turn people into objects. Dorothy later uses it to turn a villain into a dove in ''The Lost Princess of Oz''. Red Reera uses her Yookoohoo abilities to turn herself and her pets into different creatures at a whim. (She also transforms some guests, but only after getting permission.) The magic word in ''The Magic of Oz'' also allows characters to inflict this on one another.

However, these books are not necessarily PD in other countries. Since Baum died in 1919, all of his books are PD worldwide; this is not the case for works by other authors. For example, none of Thompson's books are PD in the EU or UK. Both entities base their copyright terms on the lifespan of the creator—to be exact, works enter the PD on the January 1 that follows the 70th anniversary of the creator's death. Because Thompson lived until 1976, her books won't be in the EU or UK PD until 2047.

* KingIncognito: Ozma's father and Ozma herself.

* DenserAndWackier: The books written by John R. Neill turn the weirdness and surrealism UpToEleven.