William Wallace Denslow

American 🇺🇸 1856 - 1915

William Wallace Denslow, professionally known as W.W. Denslow, was an illustrator and caricaturist. He is remembered to this day for his illustrations of L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. He was largely self-taught and had a keen interest in politics, which is reflected in his cartoons. Denslow collaborated with Baum on several of his other children’s books during the course of his career.


W.W. Denslow received substantial royalties from adaptations of The Wizard of Oz, so much so that he bought himself an island in Bermuda and named himself King Denslow I.