L. Frank Baum's the Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Rating:
Summary: Barry Moser's (almost slightly)
Review: This book has been around since 1986 and still no-one has written a review about it?! Well, this is the 1986 Pennyroyal Press Edition with 62 illustrations by Barry Moser, which is mentioned several times in "the Annotated Wizard of Oz" book. Barry Moser's almost-photographic pencil drawings are described as looking like wood-gravings. (...)Barry Moser draws the story of 'the Wizard' with pictures never tried before, but there are a few pictures that have been drawn similar before, but he certainly old characters like the King of the Winged Monkeys, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Winkies like never before. All the pictures are in a portrait style, looking at somebody's face/figure or a landscape of nature and are all in black-and-white, occasionally with stripes in the background and most areas. He has the Gale family look Australian (Aunt Em and Uncle Henry more like an African) and the Silver Shoes are more like sandals. however, some pictures are a bit of a disappointment, like Glinda and the melting Witch. Barry Moser has the Wizard of Oz modelled after (then) Precident Ronald Reagan and the his wife - Nancy Reagan - as teh model for the Wicked Witch of the West, but the Good Witch of the North looks good, possibly what Adderpele looked like in the 1975 "Wiz" Stage - but it's just a guess. glinda doesn't really look beautiful, and the Wicked Witch doesn't really look that menacing or scary, and some pictures - mostly during the forests are very difficult to make out and can strain your eyes if you focus on it a lot. Just about anybody (who is human in the story) has their face covered in shadow, so we don't exactly see what they look like. Unfortunatley, we don't see any part of the Emerald City except the Soldier (Omby Amby), the Guardian, the Wizard's forms and the Gates to the City.
This book was ordered for my 20th Birthday, and it comes with an Appreciation (Afterword) by Justin G. Schiller.
This book's pictures certainly gives off a new twist of images for "the Wonderful Wizard of Oz", and now that a review has finally been written, you can decide whether or not you want to own this edition.