The Emerald City of Oz was published by Reilly & Britton in 1910, the sixth Oz book. Baum intended it as the final volume — he was financially exhausted, the Oz books were his only reliable income, and he wanted to end the series with dignity. The novel’s conclusion (Glinda makes Oz invisible and unreachable from the outside world) was designed as a permanent farewell. Reader demand — specifically, the thousands of letters from children — eventually forced him back, and he produced eight more Oz books between 1913 and his death in 1919.
The novel has a dual structure: Dorothy brings Aunt Em and Uncle Henry to live permanently in Oz (Kansas having become financially impossible), and they tour the country’s more whimsical regions — encountering communities of living paper dolls, people made of puzzles, and cities of biscuits. Meanwhile, the Nome King is tunneling under the Deadly Desert with an army of allies, planning to conquer Oz by force.
The tension between the comic travelogue (Dorothy’s sightseeing) and the serious threat (the invasion tunnel) creates an unusual structure for a children’s book — the reader knows something terrible is approaching while the characters remain blissfully unaware. Ozma’s resolution (using the Magic Belt to make the invaders forget why they came, then drinking the Water of Oblivion) is nonviolent — consistent with Baum’s pacifist Oz, where no one can be killed and disputes are resolved without warfare.
Collecting The Emerald City of Oz
First edition (Reilly & Britton, Chicago, 1910): Cloth binding with pictorial cover, illustrated by John R. Neill.
Market values:
- First edition, first state: $200–$800
- Good condition: $100–$350
- With dust jacket (extremely rare): $1,000–$4,000
- Poor/worn: $40–$120