Welcome to my blog, featuring various pieces from my collection of Oz books, artwork and memorabilia!

Friday, December 19, 2014

Montgomery Ward

W. W. Denslow did a lot of commercial artwork in the course of his career, creating pamphlets, postcards, posters etc. One of his clients in the 1890's was the Montgomery Ward Company, the first mail-order retailer in America. He created many drawings for the Ward catalogs of the late 90's, as well as two almanacs - this one for 1898, and another for 1899.

Images from the interior of this piece, as well as the 1899 version can be seen on the Wannabe Wonderlands: Outside of Oz blog, a very good resource for viewing vintage children's books in the style of Oz, as well as other related items.

Both of the almanacs feature a selection of drawings of country life through the year. One of my favorites is this great Denslow snowman, collecting an order for Montgomery Ward - and here's an early Denslow Santa making deliveries!!

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