William Wallace Denslow

William Wallace Denslow (May 5, 1856 - March 29, 1915) was an illustrator and caricaturist remembered for his work in collaboration with author L. Frank Baum.

Born in Philadelphia, by the 1890s he was based in Chicago, where he met Baum. Besides the best known of all, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, books written by Baum and illustrated by Denslow (copyrights generally being held jointly) included By the Candelabra's Glare, Father Goose: His Book, and Dot and Tot in Merryland.

After Denslow quarreled with Baum over royalty shares from the 1902 stage adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, for which Baum wrote the script and Denslow designed the sets and costumes, Baum determined not to work with him again.

The royalties from the print and stage versions of The Wizard of Oz were sufficient to allow Denslow to purchase an island off the coast of Bermuda, and crown himself King Denslow I. However, he drank his money away, and on May 27, 1915, died in obscurity, of pneumonia.