Lyman Frank Baum

Lyman Frank Baum (American, 1856 - 1919) was an author of children's books, novelist, poet,  playwright, film maker, and newspaper reporter, his most enduring work being The Wonderful Wizard of Oz published in 1900. He also produced plays, but their failures forced him into bankruptcy and reliquishing of his corpus of works. The earliest editions are the most valuable.