L. Frank Baum "Mother Goose" ad

Well as many of you know there is something about L. Frank Baum that draws me in, wanting to know more about the man behind the stories and of course getting the stories themselves. I wouldn't call it a love, like I have for Judy but it certainly a deep fascination. Hey maybe in his day I would have had a secret crush I mean after all considering the time frame and style changes he was and still is a rather attractive man. ?!

Anyway, yesterday Jim and I decided to go to one of our favorite antique malls the Medina Antique Mall which you could view at

http://medina.antiquelandusa.com/Default.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1  anyhow while we were there I ran into this old edition of the "Ladies Home Journal".  Now I don't hardly ever look at an old magagizine like this one but I was standing there thinking that was the year Baum wrote Oz and maybe just maybe there would be something there.

Well no Oz, but the inside back cover had an ad for Pettijohn's Breakfast Food.  If you look at the ad for enclosing three cut out bears from the three boxes and an eight cent postage fee you got the first half of Mother Goose in Prose!

This book if you can imagine online the few times I have seen it is well over $250.00 so for me knowing that now 110 years ago you could have gotten it as a mail in freebie as they say is just thrilling!  The ad itself, just the ad kids, I have seen go on E-bay as high as $50.00 and well I got the whole freaking magazine for -----drumroll please----  $16.00.  Made my new year so much brighter.

Of course I am going to keep it intact in the magazine, but will photocopy it so I can frame it and hang it.  For those looking for the ad it is  "The Ladies Home Journal" June 1900 Edition  and the front of it is done in red see the photographs for the ad and the magazine here. So happy Oz/Baum/Garland hunting and if you find a treasure please feel free to contact me and I will share it here.