As a special collections library on the Catholic University campus, we naturally collect materials that fit within the educational mission of the University. We have materials on Catholic history, canon law, and theology. But we also have collections that extend beyond the sacred, and that includes a small collection of vintage children’s literature. The most prominent part of this collection is three boxes filled with Big Little Books from the 1930s and 1940s, including a controversial story set in the Land of Oz!
First of all, what is a Big Little Book (BLB)? Some of our readers may know exactly what these books are and may even have fond childhood memories of the publications. University Archivist, John Shepherd, recalls purchasing one such book from a newsstand with his 50 cent allowance in 1973. This particular copy was on the Fantastic Four…or as his stepfather, clearly not a fan, referred to it at the time as “that Fantastic FOOL book”!
The Whitman Publishing Company of Racine, Wisconsin originated BLBs, with predecessors in the 1920s. A series of small but thick books, with large fonts and illustrations usually on every other page, these books were designed for easy access and portability for children. The first official BLB (bearing that logo) was The Adventures of Dick Tracy in 1933. They originally served as reprints of comic strips or condensed movie synopses, before they began to expand into original content or adaptations of classic literature.
Whitman’s largest competitor, Saalfield Publishing Company, followed up with their own version in 1934, called Little Big Books. In 1939, Saalfield changed the name to Jumbo Books before ending the series in 1940. One of only many such imitators!
By 1938, Whitman likewise rebranded their series to Better Little Books until 1949, when it became New Better Little Books. In 1967, the series of tiny books for children returned with Dick Tracy Encounters Facey under the moniker Better Little Books. While the Whitman Publishing Company still exists today, it primarily publishes numismatics books.
The BLB collection at CatholicU mostly contains Disney-licensed books and children’s noir novels, but there is one particular book that sits at the nexus of family drama, film history, and trademark law – The Laughing Dragon of Oz.
Published as a BLB in 1934, it was the brainchild of Frank J. Baum, son of original Wizard of Oz author and creator L. Frank Baum. The younger Baum had worked closely with the family’s Oz business since 1908, including a stint as the publicist for the short-lived Oz Film Manufacturing Company from 1914-15. Despite the failure of the Baum family’s efforts to launch their own film company, the younger Baum was not dissuaded and often represented the family’s interests in the West Coast film industry.
In 1919, when his father passed away, the younger Baum began to more formally represent the family estate on behalf of his mother, Maud Baum. He managed to get several film deals struck and co-wrote the script for the 1925 silent film adaptation of the Wizard of Oz and the serialized radio adaptations in 1931. But we cannot speak of film adaptations of Oz without speaking about the legendary 1939 production. While Frank J. Baum did have a hand in selling the film rights to Samuel Goldwyn in early 1934, he was absent from the film’s eventual development…and the Laughing Dragon is the reason why.
Originally written as Rosine in Oz (after the main human character), the Oz series publisher Reilly & Lee refused to publish it in 1932. As a result, Baum changed it to Rosine and the Laughing Dragon to set it outside Oz. But this change lasted only briefly before Baum sought out a new publisher (the already-mentioned Whitman Company) to print it as a two-parter set in the Land of Oz, with the first book being The Laughing Dragon of Oz and the sequel being The Enchanted Princess of Oz.
At the time that he wrote this book, he was also working to trademark the word “Oz”. Concerned with his movements towards publishing new books and trademarking the name, the Oz book’s publishers sued both the younger Baum and the Whitman Publishing Company. As a result of the lawsuit’s settlement, no additional copies of the Laughing Dragon could be published (nor Baum’s intended sequel) and Maud took control of the Oz estate from her son. As a result of this legal battle, Frank J. Baum was largely excluded from the estate’s operations for the next several decades, although he was deeply involved in promoting his father’s legacy through books and fan clubs.
Thus, other than a single, private republication 2007, The Laughing Dragon of Oz was never published save for the 1934 first edition. The copy at Catholic University is one such original.
This story of children’s literature, rare books, and trademark battles may leave you wondering – what is the story of the Laughing Dragon and is it any good? Well, this is a spoiler-free blog, so if you would like to read the book, contact us to make an appointment to access the work: lib-rarebooks@cua.edu
For more information:
Thomas, James Stuart (1983). The Big Little Book Price Guide. Des Moines, IA: Wallace-Homestead Book Co.
Scarfone, Jay and Stillman, William (2018). The Road to Oz: The Evolution, Creation, and Legacy of a Motion Picture Masterpiece. Lyons Press.