The Wizard of Oz

Regarded as a modern fairy tale, L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz is one of America’s most cherished and enchanting children’s stories.

Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition features original illustrations by W. W. Denslow, coloured by Barbara Frith, and an introduction by Professor Sarah Churchwell.

Follow Dorothy, and her loyal dog Toto, as they are carried away from Kansas by a cyclone to the wonderful world of Oz. Wandering down the yellow brick road Dorothy meets her three famous companions – a Scarecrow longing for a brain, a Tin Woodman wishing for a heart, a cowardly Lion yearning for some courage – and together they travel to the illustrious Emerald City where they hope all their dreams will come true.

Review

Like Robin Hood, Alice or Winnie the Pooh, Baum's inventions . . . have become the mythological furniture of our children's minds, and of our own and our parents' . . . Funny and inventive -- Marina Warner ― Guardian

The tales of Aesop and other fabulists . . . will never pass entirely away, but a welcome place remains and will easily be found for such stories as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ― New York Times

Baum created a truly extraordinary world, a real world . . . and filled it with amazing things -- Dinitia Smith

[It] has worked its way into the national psyche as a fable of eternal hope in which things are not always as fearsome as they seem ― New York Times

Baum dared to offer delight without instruction -- Michael Patrick Hearn

About the Author

Lyman Frank Baum was born in 1856 in Chittenango in the state of New York. Educated mostly at home due to ill health, he was encouraged by his wealthy father to pursue his early interests in journalism and playwriting. He started his first magazine aged fifteen, had his own theatre at twenty-four and worked for many newspapers and periodicals before turning to children's fiction with stories he had made up for his own four sons. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, published in 1900, was his third bestselling book in as many years, and launched the series of Oz titles. Baum had moved with his family to Hollywood following the huge success of the books and stage adaptations. His own Oz Film Manufacturing Company failed to capitalize on the stories, and the hugely popular movie The Wizard of Oz starring Judy Garland, was not made until twenty years after Baum's death in 1939.