What editions of the Oz books have the original illustrations?

July 2, 2024 5:16 PM

I am mystified how to determine which reprinting -- if any! -- of the original 14 Wizard of Oz books contain all or most of the original illustrations (W. W. Denslow for the first, John R. Neill for the rest).

I have a few cheap paperbacks around that I've been reading to the little ones. I believe the illustrations are poor copies of the originals, and I am ALSO pretty sure that only about 1/10 of them are included. How can I be sure without buying first editions on ebay and calling it done (an expensive prospect), or randomly trying various editions?

I was loaned early editions as a young'un which had all of the illustrations, and would love to revisit them with the kids. The Library of Congress didn't seem to help, but maybe I was using it wrong.

Bonus points if you can point me to book covers, in order to help in purchasing them.

Thanks!

posted by AbelMelveny to Writing & Language (8 answers total)

Not physical copies Project Gutenberg but has at least a few of them with the original illustrations (as far as I can tell).

Here is The Wizard of Oz.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 5:30 PM on July 2

The link goes to Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz.
posted by Ideefixe at 5:40 PM on July 2

Response by poster: Thank you, Tell Me No Lies. That will be extremely helpful in comparing an edition in-hand with the original. And I've determined quickly that my cheapo paperback of Ozma of Oz with a 1990s Wal-Mart sticker is missing even more of the illustrations than I had guessed.

So, my original question stands, I guess. Were there other editions that had all of the illustrations?
posted by AbelMelveny at 6:11 PM on July 2

Best answer: These were the two suggestions via the Oz subreddit:

Books of Wonder: https://booksofwonder.com/collections/world-of-oz

Search “100th anniversary oz collection” editions on Amazon
posted by girlmightlive at 6:20 PM on July 2 [1 favorite]

Best answer: They might be hard to find right now, but a while back Barnes and Noble released a hardcover set of compendium books that included the original illustrations. All 14 books were collected into 3 compendium books. It looks like the version I know for sure has the illustrations has these details:

Pub. Date: 12/18/2013
Publisher: Fall River Press
Illustrations by W. W. Denslow and John R. Neill

I bought them because I love the art so much. If you'd like pictures of the insides, feel free to memail me.
posted by past unusual at 6:32 PM on July 2

Response by poster: From the description for the 100th Anniversary Oz Collection:

"All 66 original illustrations by John R. Neill. Don't be fooled by other versions with missing or made-up pictures."

Chef's kiss. Thank you!

And I'll look into those compendiums, too, past unusual. Great suggestion there as well!
posted by AbelMelveny at 6:35 PM on July 2

One other option, though maybe too pricey, is the 1950s Reilly & Lee sets of the Oz books. They're what I grew up with and they're exceptionally beautiful. The original were hardcover, but they were also re-released by Rand McNally as softcover books in the 1970s.
posted by anastasiav at 7:17 PM on July 2 [3 favorites]

The Internet Archive may also be useful - both for unreformatted scans of the original books (e.g. the first edition of TWWOO and a 1903 edition with fewer illustrations), and to look at different modern editions in their Books to Borrow section.
posted by offog at 8:27 PM on July 2