Italian Oz

As a collector, I really haven’t branched into the large field of foreign editions of the Oz books. But there are a few examples that I haven’t been able to resist. A couple weeks ago I featured two early British editions; here are two Italian versions of Oz tales, published around the time of the release of the MGM film. These are oversized volumes, larger than the American versions of the stories. They are charming books with lovely line illustrations printed in two colors, as well as full color plates, by Miki Ferro Pelizzari.

 

These examples are the first two titles in the series, The Wizard of Oz and The Land of Oz. This copy of the Wizard is a later printing with a cloth spine. The original printing was issued with a paper spine, like that seen on the copy of Land. I’ve mentioned my dislike of fragile paper spines in the past….

 

A fun detail in this Italian version of Land of Oz, pointed out to me by Atticus Gannaway, occurs after Jack Pumpkinhead and the Scarecrow meet. Rather than adjourning to the courtyard to play quoits, as in the original book, they play skittles! I knew it was a good game for Oz (see http://theozenthusiast.blogspot.com/2022/11/anyone-for-skittles.html ).

 

Five of the original six titles were published in this series. For some reason, the publishers decided to skip Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz!