Skip to main content
The Master Key: An Electrical Fairy Tale
The Master Key: An Electrical Fairy Tale
The Master Key: An Electrical Fairy Tale
The Master Key: An Electrical Fairy Tale

The Master Key: An Electrical Fairy Tale

BAUM, L. Frank.

The Master Key: An Electrical Fairy Tale Founded Upon the Mysteries of Electricity and the Optimism of Its Devotees.

FIRST EDITION, SECOND PRINTING, BINDING A. Indianapolis: The Bowen-Merrill Company, 1901. Illustrations by F. Y. Cory (Fanny Young Cory).

8vo. 245 pp. Olive-green cloth with mounted color illustration label to the front board, gilt-ruled and decorated; "BOWEN MERRILL" imprint on the lower spine and the comma in the last line of the copyright page to the right of the "n" in "Brooklyn"; title blind-stamped on the rear board. Twelve full-color plates by Cory, including a tissue-guarded frontispiece, plus numerous black-and-white in-text illustrations. Bienvenue & Schmidt p. 196; Schiller 77. Near fine: light wear to extremities, corners just starting to show through, front hinge cracked; color label intact with mild surface wear.

L. Frank Baum's children's novel of 1901, published the year after The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and widely classified as one of the earliest American science-fiction novels for children. Its protagonist, Rob Joslyn — generally thought to be modeled on Baum's second son, Robert Stanton Baum (born 1886, about fifteen at publication), to whom the book is dedicated — is a boy electrical experimenter whose tinkering accidentally summons the Daemon of Electricity, who grants him a succession of marvelous "gifts."

SKU TO-2026-138

Regular price

$495

Tax and calculated at checkout.

Orders are packed and shipped within 1-2 business days. Domestic orders ship via USPS Media Mail ($6.00, 5-8 business days) or Priority Mail ($15.00, 2-3 business days). Books valued over $500 ship via Priority Mail with insurance. International shipping is available — contact us at books@twoorangesbooks.com for rates. All books are carefully packed to ensure safe delivery.

Every book is described individually and photographed. If a book is not what you expected, you may return it for any reason within 14 days of delivery. Please email books@twoorangesbooks.com before returning an item so we can confirm the return. Books must be sent back in the same condition and packed as carefully as they were received, with tracking and insurance for the purchase amount. Refunds are issued to the original payment method within 5 business days of receipt. If a book arrives damaged, or is materially not as described, we cover return shipping and refund the full amount including original postage. For returns based on preference, the buyer pays return shipping and the book must arrive back in the same condition it was sent.

Share

You may also like…