This book is titled The Hungry Tiger of Oz by Ruth Plumley Thompson, the successor to L. Frank Baum after Baum died in 1919, and it’s a first edition, second state because it has only black and white illustrations and no color plates.

Size: 9 1/4 x 7 in.

The first state has color plates. It also has the damaged hyphen on the last line of page 21, which makes this a first state, and the t in the word “two” on the last line of 252 is slightly raised, as called for to be a first edition, and there is just a single date on the title and copyright pages and no other printings, which makes this a first edition as well.  

Th book also has a color paste-down on the front cover, black-and-white endpapers decorated with Oz characters, an ownership page where kids could put their names to show they owned the book, a half-title, then the title page says “The Hungry Tiger of Oz By Ruth Plumley Thompson, Founded on and continuing the Famous Oz stories By L. Frank Baum”, the book is illustrated by John R. Neill and published by Reilly & Lee. the copyright page is illustrated and says copyright 1926 by the Reilly & Lee Co. a letter by Ruth Plumley Thompson to the readers of the book follows the copyright page, then a page dedicated to William F. Lee, a one-page list of the chapter titles, and the text runs from page 15 to 261, followed by an illustration of the Pasha of Rash holding a spyglass, a list of The Famous Oz Books (nineteen in all) and a one-page ad for Classics for Children at the rear, it has the yellow top stain on all the edges, as called for, and this is the sixth Oz book in the series written by her.  

Ruth Plumley Thompson (1891 - 1976) was an American writer of children’s stories, best known for writing many novels set in Oz, the fictional land of L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its sequels. She sold her first fairy tale in high school, then took a job at a Philadelphia newspaper, writing a weekly column for children. She was working on her second book when William Lee, vice-president of Baum’s publisher Reilly & Lee, asked Thompson to continue the Oz series. (The book here is dedicated to William F. Lee.) Her first Oz book was published in 1921 and Reilly & Lee published the book under Frank Baum’s name to avoid problems with transition, and after that Thompson wrote one Oz book a year between 1921 and 1939 and published her last two Oz books in 1972 and 1976. She was also the initial editor of Ace Comics.  

John R. Neill (1877 - 1943) was an illustrator for magazines and children’s books, primarily the Oz books. Born in Philadelphia, he illustrated the second Oz book, The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904) and later on, he was named the Imperial Illustrator of Oz. He illustrated 13 of L. Frank Baum's Oz books, as well as all 19 of the Oz books by Ruth Plumley Thompson, and he wrote three Oz books himself between 1940 and 1942.  

The book measures 9 1/4 x 7 inches wide and is in very good condition, especially for a book that was probably well read by children. The book has a tight binding and clean pages and text, clean illustrations, one page has faint brown spots, there is wear on the crown and bumps on the heel and light rubbing at the tips, but overall a very clean and attractive copy, and the only real blemish is the mottled cover on the back. 

First editions with the color plates go up to $350 on the rare book website we use and first editions with a dust jacket go up to $1800 or so.  

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