1937 Rare Oz Book - The SEA FAIRIES by L. Frank Baum, Illustrated by JNO R. Neill.

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Author: L. Frank Baum, Illustrated by JNO R. Neill.
Title: The Sea Fairies by L. Frank Baum, Royal Historian of Oz.
Publisher: Chicago, The Reilly & Lee Co., no date (1937) with Handy Mandy in Oz (1937) listed at the rear flap of dust jacket.
Language: Text in English.
Size: 9 " X 7 ". 
Pages: 239 pages.
Binding: Attractive and very good original full cloth decorated binding (hinges fine, overall slightly scuffed and worn - as shown) in a good dust jacket (small chips and tears - as shown) under a protective removable mylar cover. 
Content: Very good content (bright, tight, and clean, rare light foxing or staining- as shown). 
Illustrations: Complete with the beautiful color frontispiece and the black and white illustrations by John Rea Neill.

The book: Rare and very attractive edition of The Sea Fairies -- a children's fantasy novel written by L. Frank Baum, illustrated by John R. Neill, and originally published in 1911 by the Reilly & Britton Company, the publisher of Baum's series of Oz books. As an underwater fantasy, Baum's The Sea Fairies can be classed with earlier books with similar themes, like Charles Kingsley's The Water-Babies (1863), and successors too, like E. Nesbit's Wet Magic (1913).

Plot: Mayre Griffiths, nicknamed Trot, or sometimes Tiny Trot, is a little girl who lives on the coast of southern California. Her father is the captain of a sailing schooner, and her constant companion is Cap'n Bill Weedles, a retired sailor with a wooden leg. (Cap'n Bill had been Trot's father's skipper, and Charlie Griffiths had been his mate, before the accident that took the older man's leg.) Trot and Cap'n Bill spend many of their days roaming the beaches near home, or rowing and sailing along the coast. One day, Trot wishes that she could see a mermaid; her wish is overheard, and granted the next day. The mermaids explain to Trot, and the distressed Cap'n Bill, that they are benevolent fairies; when they offer Trot a chance to pay a visit to their land in mermaid form, Trot is enthusiastic, and Bill is too loyal to let her go off without him.

The illustrator: John Rea Neill (November 12, 1877 – September 19, 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 did a great deal of magazine and newspaper illustration work which is not as well known today.

The author: Lyman Frank Baum (May 15, 1856 – May 6, 1919) was an American author known for his children's books, particularly The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its sequels. He wrote 14 novels in the Oz series, plus 41 other novels (not including four lost, unpublished novels), 83 short stories, over 200 poems, and at least 42 scripts. He made numerous attempts to bring his works to the stage and screen; the 1939 adaptation of the first Oz book became a landmark of 20th-century cinema.