John R. Neill

John Rea Neill (1877-1943) 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 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.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, John R. Neill did his first illustration work for the Philadelphia's Central High School newspaper in 1894–95. Neill dropped out of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts after one semester because he said, "They have nothing to teach me".

He then turned to advertising art for the Wanamaker department store in Philadelphia. He became a staff artist of the Philadelphia North Americannewspaper, for which he produced features like the comic strip 'Toyland', illustrations for the serialisation of 'The Fate of a Crown' (a book by L. Frank Baum), 'Children's Stories That Never Grow Old' and the Sunday comics page 'The Little Journeys of Nip and Tuck'.

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, the first book in the series, had been illustrated by W.W. Denslow, with whom Baum had argued and lost contact.

Originally, Neill's illustrations were reminiscent of Denslow's, to bring continuity and familiarity to the characters as Denslow's illustrations had been quite popular. However, as the series expanded, Neill brought his unique flair to the illustrations, showing more artistic representations of the characters. Denslow's Dorothy appeared as a chubby five or six-year-old with long brown hair in two thick plaits that remained untied at the ends. Neill chose to illustrate a new Dorothy in 1907 when the character was reintroduced in 'Ozma of Oz'. He illustrated the young girl with a more fashionable appearance, shown to be about ten years old, dressed in contemporary American fashions, with blonde hair cut in a bob. A similar modernisation was given to other female characters.

Neill also collaborated with Baum on books such as 'John Dough and the Cherub' (1906) and 'The Sea Fairies' (c.1911). Neill's illustrations were published in the leading magazines of the first few decades of the twentieth century, including Collier's, Vanity Fair, The Saturday Evening Post, the Ladies Home Journal, Century, Pictorial Review, The Delineator, Boys' Life, St. Nicholas, The People's Home Journal and many others. In 1930 and 1931, he contributed a great deal of artwork to Argosy.

Neill continued to illustrate the Oz books after Baum died in 1919, and his artwork was praised for helping give successor 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, but the full illustrations were never finished and Reilly  Lee decided not to publish the manuscript. However, Neill's widow kept the manuscript safe, and, in 1995, it was finally published by Books of Wonder.

Neill illustrated dozens of books not written by Baum including 'The Foolish Fox' (1904) and 'Snow-bound' (1909).