a few minutes before midnight on the
seventh of February, 1812
In the meantime , '' he said , scribbling on a piece of paper that had some kind of drawing on it , `` I have autographed a sketch of Boz to take back with you . Boz was the name I used when I first embarked on my literary adventures . In case you are wondering if there is a cryptic connection between Boz and Baum and Oz , you 'll have to keep wondering about that . I was born at Portsea , Portsmouth , a few minutes before midnight on the seventh of February , 1812 , forty-four years before Mr. Baum was born . I came to Oz in 1870 , when Mr. Baum was only fourteen years old . He was not destined to write about Oz until some thirty years later . Now , when you come back , I 'll tell you some more about my early days , and I 'll make sure that our friend Twain does n't bask in his self-perceived limelight while we 're having our important discussions . ''