John R. Neill

From Free net encyclopedia

John Rea Neill (November 12, 1877 - September 13, 1943) was a children's book illustrator primarily known for illustrating more than forty stories set in the Land of Oz, including L. Frank Baum's, Ruth Plumly Thompson's, and three of his own. His pen-and-ink drawings have become identified almost exclusively with the Oz series. He also did a great deal of magazine illustration work which unfortunately is not as well known today.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he was first commissioned to illustrate The Marvelous Land of Oz, the second Oz book L. Frank Baum wrote; The Wonderful Wizard of Oz had been illustrated by W. W. Denslow, with whom Baum argued and lost contact afterwards.

Neill would continue to illustrate Oz books after Baum's death, and his artwork was praised for helping give Ruth Plumly Thompson's books "legitimacy" in the eyes of Baum's fans. Neill would eventually succeed Thomspson as the designated "Oz historian" and write several books himself.

The Oz books he wrote for the firm of Reilly & Lee are considered part of the Famous Forty, and appeared one a year from 1940 to 1942. These were The Wonder City of Oz, The Scalawagons of Oz, and Lucky Bucky in Oz. He had completed a draft The Runaway in Oz at his death but had not illustrated or edited it. Reilly & Lee decided not to publish the unfinished manuscript, and it lay incomplete until 1995, when it was published by Books of Wonder with illustrations by Eric Shanower.