L. Frank Baum wrote the children's fantasy book The Enchanted Island of Yew: Whereon Prince Marvel Encountered the High Ki of Twi and Other Surprising People, which was released by the Bobbs-Merrill Company in 1903. The initial printing was dedicated to Kenneth Gage Baum, the youngest of the author's four sons, and featured eight color plates as well as numerous colored-ink images stamped over the text. In her biography of Baum, Katharine Rogers mentions that in his stage adaptation of Edith Ogden Harrison's Prince Silverwings and Other Fairy Tales (1902), Baum first used the name Kwytoffle. Baum and Harrison were collaborating in 1903 on a stage adaptation of Baum's popular book. The play was scheduled to premiere in the summer of 1904, but the devastating Iroquois Theater Fire in December 1903 compelled the mayor of Chicago—curiously, Edith Harrison's husband—to order the closure of the city's theaters. Never did Silverwings make it to the boards. In the middle and latter decades of the 20th century, The Enchanted Island of Yew was out of print for more than fifty years. The small press Buckethead Enterprises of Oz reprinted it in 1988 with Cory's illustrations.
Lyman Frank Baum was an American writer best known for his children's books, especially The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its sequels. He wrote 14 novels in the Oz series, plus 41 other novels, 83 short stories, above 200 poems, and at least 42 scripts. He made many attempts to lead his works to the stage and screen; the 1939 adaptation of the first Oz book became a milestone of 20th-century cinema. Baum was born on 15 May 1856, near Syracuse, New York. His father, Benjamin, was a rich oil businessman, and young Frank developed in comfort. As a young child Frank was teached at home with his kins, but at the age of 12 he was sent to study at Peekskill Military Academy. He followed a variety of careers varying from acting to newspaper reporting to theatrical management to writing plays. Baum married Maud Gage, daughter of Matilda Joslyn Gage, a famous women's suffrage campaigner. His famous works are Mother Goose, Father Goose, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, The Master Key, etc. He made and headed The Oz Film Manufacturing Company in 1914. Baum expired on 6 May 1919 and was buried in Glendale, California.
