With a strong initial focus on children's books, the firm published editions of the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen and The Brothers Grimm in 1905; but their mainstay in their early years remained L. Frank Baum.

Hugh Fitzgerald," and one for girls, Aunt Jane's Nieces, by "Edith Van Dyne" — the last one was so successful that it inspired a ten-volume series of the same name.

There was also a set of six booklets for small children, collectively known as The Twinkle Tales, by "Laura Bancroft," with illustrations by Maginel Wright Enright.

The five were: Ozma of Oz and Father Goose's Year Book, under his own name; Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad, by "Edith Van Dyne;" Sam Steele's Adventures in Panama, by "Capt.

The 1906-7 Sam Steele titles were not especially successful, though they did better in later years, when they were repackaged as installments of Baum's Boy Fortune Hunters series, by "Floyd Akers."

[citation needed] Since Baum was their star writer, the firm promoted his works prominently and imaginatively, with contests, paper cut-outs of Oz characters, press releases in Oz-newspaper format, and similar tactics.

In 1959 the company was purchased by the Henry Regnery Co., which for a time maintained Reilly & Lee as a separate imprint for Oz books and related titles.

(In turn, Henry Regnery later assigned the Oz series to Contemporary Books, also of Chicago, which eventually was absorbed as a division of McGraw-Hill.)