The Annotated Wizard of Oz (2000)

The Centennial Edition of The Annotated Wizard of Oz story by L. Frank Baum, edited and with an introduction and notes by Michael Patrick Hearn (2000) is one of the best presents I've gotten recently. As you may remember, I spent much of last year reading a compilation of all 15 of Baum's Oz books, which I really enjoyed. The only sad part was that the single-volume edition of the books that I read didn't have any illustrations. The illustrations are particularly important for the first Oz book, The Wonderful World of Oz (1900) where the drawings by W. W. Denslow had a huge impact on the reception of the book and its success with children.

This centennial edition of the book reproduces the original text and illustrations of The Wonderful World of Oz with the original colors -- including a large section of full-color plates in the center of the book and dual-color drawings throughout that change colors as Dorothy and her friends travel through the land of Oz. In addition, there is a lengthy, nicely written, and thoroughly illustrated introduction that gives biographical information on Baum and Denslow, the history of their creative partnership, the popular reception of the first Oz book, and Baum's continued work with the Oz series.

The book itself is annotated by Hearn through a series of footnotes. These often interesting (although occasionally a little out in left field) notes include biographical information; connections between the original books and various movies, plays, and other artwork inspired by the Oz characters; critical receptions of the books; and the occasional nerdy highlighting of inconsistencies within or between different Oz stories. I found the majority of the annotations to be worthwhile and fun to read, although if you hadn't read the book before I would definitely give the original text a read-through before working through Hearn's digressions...

I love really nice books, and this book is physically just awesome -- it is big and heavy with thick paper, just like a children's fairy tale storybook. The illustrations and photographs are wonderful to look at, and make the book a joy to read.