William Wallace (W.W.) Denslow

William Wallace (W.W.) Denslow (May 5, 1856-March 29, 1915) was the first professional artist Elbert Hubbard invited to work at the Roycroft Shops in East Aurora, New York. From 1898 to 1902, Denslow spent part of the year creating designs for publications, posters, and bookplates as well as drawing cartoons and decorating limited editions. He supplemented this income by designing book covers for Rand McNally and supplying hundreds of little pictures for Montgomery Ward’s mail order catalogues. In almost every design, he inserted his signature logo—a tiny seahorse. He designed seahorse andirons that were produced by the Roycroft Blacksmith Shop in its earliest years. Denslow is best known as the illustrator for The Wizard of Oz in collaboration with the author, L. Frank Baum in 1900.