1964
Justin G. Schiller
Justin G. Schiller was fascinated with the writings of L. Frank Baum and his successors at an early age. At age 12 he lent rare material from his private collection to an exhibition celebrating the centenary of the author’s birth mounted at Columbia University Libraries.
Inspired by this event, and encouraged by Jack Snow and others, Justin wrote to everyone associated with the exhibition, proposing what became the International Wizard of Oz Club. He founded it the next year with 16 members, including L. Frank Baum Memorial Award winners Fred M. Meyer, Ruth Berman, Martin Gardner, Russell P. MacFall, and Douglas and David Greene. Justin also founded the Club’s journal, The Baum Bugle, and managed it and the Club for four years until he entered college.
In 1978 he sold his personal collection of Baumiana and Oziana at a major auction sale, the catalogue of which has become a reference classic. Justin left active participation in the Club after 1971 to pursue his professional career, and today is an internationally renowned antiquarian bookseller, specializing in children’s literature from the 16th to the early 19th centuries.