(Children's Literature / Alphabet Books / L. Frank Baum) BAUM, L. Frank. THE ARMY ALPHABET; verse by L. Frank Baum; pictures by Harry Kennedy. Chicago; New York: Geo. M. Hill Company, Publishers, 1900, (1900). FIRST EDITION. Folio (12-9/16" H x 10-7/16" W). [30] leaves printed rectos only. Blue cloth-backed color pictorial paper-covered boards, plain endpapers. Illustrated with a color title-page drawing and twenty-eight full-page color plates by Harry Kennedy; illumined and hand-lettered by Charles J. Costello.
The physical condition of the item is graded NEAR FINE (utilizing the standard antiquarian book grading scale for works on paper). The binding displays very minor wear to the extremities and minor abrasions to the front and rear covers while remaining an exceptionally preserved specimen of a notoriously fragile title. Plain endpapers exhibit a small area of light discoloration on both free endpapers. Internally fine, with exceptionally bright, clean chromolithographed leaves throughout.
Turn-of-the-Century Patriotic Juvenile Literature and Baum's Alphabet Books
Published in 1900 by the Geo. M. Hill Company—the same historic year and publisher that issued The Wonderful Wizard of Oz—The Army Alphabet represents one of L. Frank Baum's most ambitious early contributions to picture book design. Conceived alongside its companion volume, The Navy Alphabet, the work tapped into widespread American public fascination with national defense and military branch culture following the Spanish-American War. Rather than relying on standard rhyming tropes, Baum crafted spirited military-themed verses paired with Harry Kennedy's bold full-page color illustrations. The visual presentation was further elevated by artist Charles J. Costello, who hand-lettered and illumined the entirety of the text for production, resulting in a cohesive work of early twentieth-century American graphic arts.
Series Bibliography, Structural Fragility, and Institutional Census
Owing to its large folio format, heavy paper stock, and unreinforced paper-covered board construction, The Army Alphabet was inherently susceptible to severe wear, hinge separation, and loose leaves in the hands of young readers. Consequently, surviving examples in clean, collector-grade condition are exceedingly rare in the trade. A current global sweep of the OCLC/WorldCat database locates only 14 copies preserved in institutional special collections worldwide:
THIS EXCEPTIONALLY WELL-PRESERVED FIRST EDITION EXAMPLE OF BAUM'S SCARCE MILITARY PICTURE BOOK REPRESENTS A CRITICAL ACQUISITION FOR INSTITUTIONAL SPECIAL COLLECTIONS OR EXTRAORDINARY PRIVATE COLLECTIONS DEVOTED TO THE HISTORY OF CHILDREN'S LITERATURE, EARLY TWENTIETH-CENTURY BOOK DESIGN, OR L. FRANK BAUM BIBLIOGRAPHY.
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