"The Hungry Tiger of Oz", by Ruth Plumly Thompson, founded on and continuing the Famous Oz Stories by Frank Baum, illustrated by John R. Neill, published by Reilly & Lee, Chicago, 1926, first edition, first state of the first printing.

Points of first printing:
Copyright 1926 w/o additional printings. "The Hungry Tiger" is the final title on the list of Oz books on the last page.
16-page gathering
12 color plates coated on one side only

Points of the first state:
Hyphen in the last line page 21
The word "two" is in perfect type on page 252

The Famous Forty Canon consists of the forty original Oz books published by the Reilly & Lee company of Chicago.
These original forty titles span the years 1900 through 1963 and five writers - the most prolific ones being Lyman Frank Baum (of course), the discoverer and then "Royal Historian" of Oz; and his immediate successor, Ruth Plumly Thompson. Between them, they related 33 tales from Oz (14 by LFB and 19 by RPT). Also, with the exceptions of the very first Oz tale 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) and the final four, the other 35 Oz tales were all illustrated to perfection by John R. Neill.

John Rea Neill (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, November 12, 1877 - September 13, 1943) was a magazine and 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 was first commissioned to illustrate "The Marvelous Land of Oz", the second Oz book L. Frank Baum wrote, published in 1904; "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" had been illustrated by W.W. Denslow, with whom Baum argued and lost contact afterward.

Neill brought his own unique flair to the illustrations, showing more artistic representations of the characters as well as beautiful paintings of numerous scenes. In fact, he was later named the Imperial Illustrator of Oz.

Dorothy drawn by Denslow appeared to be a chubby five- or six-year-old with long brown hair in two braids. Neill chose to illustrate a new Dorothy in 1907 when the character was reintroduced in 'Ozma of Oz'. He illustrated the young girl in a more fashionable appearance. Neill continued to illustrate the 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 Thompson as the designated "Oz historian" and write several books himself. "The Wonder City of Oz", "The Scalawagons of Oz", and "Lucky Bucky in Oz", which debuted each year from 1940 to 1942, were written by Neill for the firm of Reilly & Lee and are considered part of the "Famous Forty". His last work, "The Runaway in Oz" was drafted before his death, however the full illustrations were never finished. Reilly & Lee decided not to publish the manuscript.

Neill illustrated dozens of books that were not written by Baum. One of the most notable of Neill's non-Baum books was his adaptation of Helen Bannerman's 1899 story, "Little Black Sambo", Neill's edition of "Little Black Sambo", which was published by Reilly and Britton in 1908, included a short story called "The Story of Topsy from Uncle Tom's Cabin".

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Hard boards, cloth with past-down illustration on the front board (a little wear and soiling); 6.3/4" x 9.1/8"; b/w illustrated endpapers are creased at the hinges; 261 pages with many b/w text illustrations; all 12 color plates are present; a little wear and soiling, no inscriptions, very good binding and condition.