The Wizard of Oz: And Other Wonderful Books of Oz: The Emerald City of Oz and Glinda of Oz (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

The coveted and award-winning Penguin Threads series continues with three more enchanting, beautifully sewn covers by a talented visual artist

With paper and pen or needle and thread, storytelling has many traditions. Penguin’s award-winning art director Paul Buckley presents Penguin Threads, a series of Penguin Classics Deluxe Editions inspired by the aesthetic of handmade crafts with specially commissioned cover art. Jillian Tamaki’s embroidered artwork appears on The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, Emma by Jane Austen, and Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. This latest set features three beloved classics for both adults and children with cover art by painter and illustrator Rachell Sumpter. Sketched in a traditional illustrative manner, the final covers are sculpt embossed and present full front and reverse hand-stitched designs. Through story, style and texture, the Penguin Threads is an exciting chapter in Penguin’s long history of excellence in book design, for true lovers of the book, design, and handcrafted beauty.

This fully annotated volume collects three of Baum’s fourteen Oz novels in which he developed his utopian vision and which garnered an immense and loyal following. The Wizard of Oz (1900) introduces Dorothy, who arrives from Kansas and meets the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion, and a host of other characters. The Emerald City of Oz (1910) finds Dorothy, Aunt Em, and Uncle Henry coming to Oz just as the wicked Nome King is plotting to conquer its people. In Baum’s final novel, Glinda of Oz (1920), Dorothy and Princess Ozma try to prevent a battle between the Skeezers and the Flatheads. Tapping into a deeply rooted desire in himself and his loyal readers to live in a peaceful country which values the sharing of talents and gifts, Baum’s imaginative creation, like all great utopian literature, holds out the possibility for change. Also included is a selection of the original illustrations by W. W. Denslow and John R. Neill.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

作者簡介

李曼．法蘭克．鮑姆（Lyman Frank Baum, 1856-1919）

　　兒童文學經典名著作家，1856年5月15日出生於美國紐約的吉田南葛（Chittenango）小鎮，自小體弱多病，個性內向，喜幻想，愛好寫作。
　　
　　1899年出版《鵝爸爸》（Father Goose）頗獲好評，1900年出版《綠野仙蹤》（The Wonderful Wizard of Oz）更深得小讀者的喜愛，讀者們甚至寫信要求鮑姆再寫更多奧茲王國的故事。因此，鮑姆一共寫了十四本有關奧茲王國的童話，一般熟知的《綠野仙蹤》僅是該系列的第一本書。而在鮑姆過世後，還有許多作者接替續寫，與奧茲相關的系列讀物多達四十冊。
　　
　　1939年，改編自《綠野仙蹤》的電影「The Wizard of Oz」熱烈上映。這個來自堪薩斯州的小女孩桃樂絲和小狗托托，與沒有腦袋的稻草人、渴望一顆心的鐵樵夫、膽小獅結伴而行的冒險故事，緊緊捉住世界各地大人及小孩的心。主題曲「Somewhere Over the Rainbow」在美國乃至許多國家傳唱了六十多年。
　　
　　鮑姆立志寫出不含刻板教化意味，只有歡樂的童話故事，他曾說：「My books are intended for all those whose hearts are young, no matter what their ages may be.」（我的書是為了那些仍存赤子之心的人們而寫，不論他們的實際年齡為何。）