Does only “ The Oz ” himself know who wrote The Royal Book of Oz ? Who Wrote the 15 th Book of Oz ? An Application of Multivariate Analysis to Authorship Attribution

Lyman Frank Baum (1856–1919), according to Martin Gardner, was “America’s greatest writer of children’s fantasy.” “His Wonderful Wizard of Oz has long been the nation’s best known, best loved native fairy tale” (Gardner and Nye 1957, p. 19). Although initially rejected by publishers in Chicago, it became a children’s best seller by Christmas of 1900. Such an instant success led biographer Russell MacFall to write a chapter about 1900, calling it Baum’s annus mirabilis (Baum and MacFall 1961). After writing the first Oz book, Baum could not separate himself from the fantasy land he created. In less than two decades, he produced a series conDoes only “The Oz” himself know who wrote The Royal Book of Oz?