W.W. Denslow
Baum’s illustrative collaborator on the first Oz history was William Wallace (W.W.) Denslow. Born in 1856 and a prolific working illustrator/designer since his late teens, Denslow is mostly remember today for his work on Wizard.
He was an energetic, eccentric sort, prone to hard work and hard drinking. He was married and divorced three times. Between 1899 and 1906 he illustrated over twenty best selling childrens’ books. He drew comics strips and wrote plays and musicals. With the profits he purchased a small island in Bermuda and declared himself King Denslow the First.
For many people it is Denslow’s illustrations that form their picture of Oz. What is even more remarkable is how accurate those illustrations were. Denslow did not meet Dorothy or any Ozites until 1904, four years after he’d completed the illustrations for Wizard. For that history he only had Dorothy’s letters, Baum’s second hand memories and one faded photo of Dorothy from which to interpret and illuminate the Land of Oz.
While it is true that Denslow and Baum quarreled over the rights to Wizard and during their collaboration on the 1902 musical adaptation of the book it was Ozma’s 1904 American visit that ultimately turned him away from creating further illustrations of Oz. For Denslow this encounter with Fairyland proved to be a harrowing experience. He had met creatures that he thought he had only been imagining and he had seen things that he could never properly describe afterwards. Though he produced a short series of comic strips illustrating some of the highlights of Ozma’s visit he avoided drawing Oz scenes after that year.
He passed away in 1915 after a sudden illness.