NORMAN P. HALL (1885-1967) "For several minutes, Betty and Bobby looked about them in wonderment."
Interior book illustration for The Wonder Hill, Or The Marvelous Rescue of Prince Iota by Albert Neely Hall (Chicago: Rand McNally, 1914). Gouache on board. 370x270 mm; 14½x10½ inches. Signed in lower left image.
From a delightful and obscure children's book very much inspired by Frank L. Baum and his Oz books, this scene represents "the most gorgeous [room the children] had ever laid eyes on. The walls were richly ornamented with gold, and the room was brilliantly lighted by a large glass dome over the center of the ceiling."
"The first thing that came to their attention was a fountain of delicious ice-cream soda water over in a corner of the room. This was a most wonderful fountain. It ran continuously, and its flavors changed every minute. So, if you did not like the taste of one kind of soda water, all you had to do was empty your golden goblet, wait until the flavor changed, and then try some more."
Norman P. Hall also illustrated Baum's American Fairy Tales (1901) and Aunt Jane's Nieces in the Red Cross (1915). In addition to the Baum books, Hall worked on many juvenilia and adventure stories including The Boy Scouts of the Air, The Boy Craftsman.
