Indianapolis: The Bowen-Merrill Company Publishers, [1901]. First edition. Third state, with the copyright notice having the publisher’s name measuring 1 25/32 inches in length. Original olive green cloth stamped in gilt on front cover and spine. Color pictorial label on front cover. Back cover with title stamped in blind. Armorial bookplate of Clayton Smith on front paste-down and ink inscription dated 1905 on free end-paper. Twelve color plates, numerous black and white text illustrations. A bright and near fine copy.

This “electrical fairy tale” expresses Baum’s lifelong fascination with scientific discovery. The protagonist is actually the author’s second son, Robert Stanton Baum, to whom the book is dedicated and who recalled this boyhood interest in electrical gadgetry in an autobiography published in The Baum Bugle, Christmas 1970 and Spring 1971. Overshadowed by some of Baum's better known works, inlcuding the Oz series, it is nevertheless an important and representative work.

The Baum Bugle, Autumn 1968, p. 19. Schiller 77. Near Fine (Item #3564)