The Annotated Wizard of Oz: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: 0 (The Annotated Books)

Bought for my son in law he loved it

IF YOU ARE A BOOK COLLECTOR AND AN OZ FAN THEN THIS IS THE BOOK FOR YOU. BOUGHT IT FOR MY PARTNER AS HE IS TUNNED BY HOW BEAUTIFUL THE BOOK IS

Beautiful copy with lavish illustrations delivered in good time for Christmas.

Fabulous book for OZ fans

It's great!

I bought this as a present for my wife's birthday, the quality is fantastic and she loves it to bits. She is now reading the stories to our daughter. I would recommend this to anyone.

I bought this book for a present. My friend was very pleased with it and I had the chance to check its wonderful illustrations and full colour edition. Don't know much about the actual content that makes the book an 'annotated edition', but looked great at first sight and I would strongly recommend anyone who likes the story of the Wizard of Oz to buy it since its price is great. Just to say the international delivery took a bit too long, however the item was in perfect condition when I eventually got it.

An invaluable book with the original story of oz profusely illustrated and with annotations. Sadly the copy received had no dust jacket (as per the illustration in the listing) and had a large dedication written on the title page which had bled through the page (it was a gift to a son from a father).

Schön aufgemachtes Buch mit interessanten Erklärungen. Liebe solche Hardcoverbücher mit diesen netten Details. Die Notizen, sowie Bilder machen diese Anschaffung absolut empfehlenswert, wenn man denn auf solche Sachen steht, denn neben der Hauptgeschichte, gibt es noch genug nebenbei zu lesen. Habe mir ebenfalls Alice im Wunderland angeschafft, gleiches Format und ebenfalls zufrieden.

No decepciona en absoluto. Es una edición especial en la cual toda la información acerca de este libro y la novela, la puedes encontrar ahí. Además, al ser versión original en inglés, puedes observar las páginas tal cual eran en la primera edición del Mago de Oz. Muy contenta con la compra, aunque hay que tener un mínimo de inglés para leerlo (no es muy difícil ya que es un cuento "infantil").

I bought this to read the original Oz to my daughter but loved reading it for myself. The Annotated Wizard of Oz by Michael Patrick Hearn contains a facsimile of the 1900 first edition with the beautiful illustrations by William Wallace Denslow and previously unpublished illustrations. It has a preface by Martin Gardner, an extensive introduction by Hearn, hundreds of annotations, previously unpublished photographs, and expanded research notes. According to L. Frank Baum, his stated his purpose for writing the original Oz book was to entertain children. “The story of ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ was written solely to please children of today. It aspires to being a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heart-aches and nightmares are left out.” Baum thought older European fairy tales were outdated for modern kids and included scary, violent, or heavily moralistic elements. He deliberately stripped away stereotypical fairy-tale figures to create a distinctly American version (bright, optimistic fantasy world full of colorful adventures, friendly characters, and happy endings). Most people today are more familiar with the wizard if Oz 1939 MGM movie than the 1900 Frank Baum book. As usual there is more character development in the book but this annotated version takes it to a different level. Michael Patrick Hearn wrote a lengthy introduction including a biography of L. Frank Baum. The core of this edition is an annotated facsimile of the first “Wonderful Wizard of Oz” edition with 25 more W. W. Denslow illustrations not in the original book. Also the appendix has a bibliography of published “Oz” work with several Wizard of Oz productions from 1939-2000. Michael Patrick Hearn was a L. Frank Baum scholar and defender of Baum’s work. One popular 1964 essay by high school history teacher proposed that Baum embedded a subtle critique of 1890s America - bimetallism, farmers’ struggles, industrialization, and political unrest. Though Henry Littlefield’s “The Wizard of Oz: Parable on Populism” influenced some in the literary world, Hearn was a strong critics of Littlefield’s theory. He noted a lack of contemporary evidence (reviews, letters, or statements from Baum) suggesting a hidden political allegory. Hearn mentions in the book’s introduction that he found “no evidence that Baum’s story is in any way a Populist allegory.” Littlefield later responded to Hearn, conceding there was no factual basis for his allegory. Now to the core story: SPOILERS on differences. The Good Witch of the North, Glinda, kissed Dorothy on the head proving her a protection charm. The group falling victim to the poppy field employed the help of field mice to save the lion. Wicked Witch of the East had silver shoes instead of ruby slippers. Oz’s Guardian of the Gate supplies all visitors with tinted spectacles that makes everything appear emerald green. The foursome meet the Wizard of Oz separately on successive days and he takes a different firm each time - Toto didn’t have a solo audience. The large headless green body from the movie is how Dorothy sees the wizard. The wizard wants the wicked witch dead not simply her broomstick like in the movie. A golden cap had a charm to call the flying monkeys. The Wicked Witch of the East only has one eye but can see things at a distance like a telescope. Also there is no road to the witch’s castle only untilled fiends of flowers. The Wicked Witch typically enslaves trespassers but decided to kill Dorothy’s group because they cannot work for her. After defeating the Wicked Witch of the West with a bucket of water, Dorothy frees the Winkies and the Flying Monkeys. Using the golden cap, Dorothy has the monkey’s fly her party back to the Emerald City. The wizard would not see them until threatened with Flying Monkeys - who defeated the Wizard of Oz before. The wizard is revealed as a small, bald, old man without powers. He was a ventriloquist turned balloonist from Omaha. The wizard said this land had four witches when he arrived - north and south were good and east and west were wicked. How the wizard manifests the Scarecrow’s brains, Tin Woodman’s heart, and the Lion’s courage differs with the movie version more effective. However the success of each is due to the placebo effect. Dorothy gives the golden cap to Glinda which she used to transport the three companions to different lands as ruler: Munchkin, Winkie, and Oz. There are several adventures from the book not present in the movie such as the Queen of the Field Mice, traveling to the south, the attacking trees, China doll country, the forest beasts meeting, and quadling country. The movie version is a concise and satisfying hero’s journey whereas the book describes a land in reality with a little girl’s adventures trying to return home. Kansas is featured less prominently in the book but is repeatedly discussed as Dorothy’s goal throughout. A note to you g readers: Dorothy’s companions kill many creatures on their journies: wildcats, wolves, crows, black bees, and a Kalidahs (bear with lion’s head).

There is no other edition out there like this one, and it would be hard to beat, but I call onto any competition to try. Though the references and mindset of the annotations can be limited, and at certain times a little superfluously comical, they are nevertheless interesting, and I am pleased that they are included. Much of the annotations come from a handful of secondary sources, but that is the fault of the scholarly field that has been taken upon The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and not the compiler of this edition. Thus, the book itself as a meta-compalition of Oz information is at the top of the field and I highly recommend it to those wanting to begin to engage in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in a more scholarly fashion. It is a good starting point for research, though it is not the end all, for there is much more information out there that deserves thoughtful engagement, and also much more to be analyzed. The book (physically) is great quality, and pleasant to look at. The Oz story itself, well, it is a novel that deserves even more admiration and respect then it gets, as it is truly a masterpiece of American literature, as well as children's literature of the English language.

Libro precioso. Una edición cuidada y de calidad para los fans de El Mago de Oz. Si