Intellectual Property & Commodity
COPYRIGHT
copyright application materials
Registration
entry
#A19092
(Evina, 2000, To please a child)
The Wizard of Oz is one of the "most frequently translated American children's book (Baum, 2000, pg. xiii)." “The book had sold five million copies by the time it went into the public domain in 1956 (Baum, 2000, pg. xiii)."
PUBLISHERS
George M. Hill
Hill was the first publisher of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The company held the publishing copyright from 1900-1902.
Terms of the deal:
​
"to print, publish, and circulate the said book, and ... to perform every service which it is usual to perform in respect to the sale and distribution of his books, and to bear all expenses of circulation, advertisement and other work incidental to the placing of said book on the market; and ... to use all ordinary methods known to the trade to push the sale of the said book." (Baum, 2000, pg. xxxviii)
"The royalty was set at nine cents for each of them for every copy sold at list price of $1.50 (Baum, 2000, pg. xxxviii)." I assume in this instance the author, Michael Patrick Hearn, is using the phrase "each of them" to mean Baum & Denslow although it is not stated explicitly. So collectively the creators would earn 18 cents for each copy.
​
An advance of $1,000 was offered to Baum and Denslow, each receiving $500, "with the understanding that they were granting Hill 'the exclusive right of publication of any books or literary works with they may jointly produce, write or illustrate, during a period of five years from the date of this agreement (Baum, 2000, pg xxxviii)."
​
The George Hill company went bankrupt in 1902. 90,000 copies of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz sold in the first six months and remaining on the bestseller's list for two years could not save Hill's publishing company. (Collins, 2017, p. 216)
(1900) the Wonderful Wizard of Oz Advert
Carqueville Litho Company, Poster.
The Literary News,
pp. 296–297, October 1900.
General Collections, Library of Congress
Bobbs-Merrill
Bobbs-Merrill took over as publisher and slowly reduced the amount of artwork in subsequent editions. Bobbs-Merrill was also responsible for shortening the title to simply The Wizard of Oz. (Collins, 2017, p. 216)