This year was the year I decided to take my Oz collection seriously. It was originally an accidental collection, like my Cinderellas, just things I had picked up because I liked them.
Last year for Christmas my family all joined forces to collect the McDonalds/Madame Alexander Oz dolls for me and that marked the beginning of my mission. They did a wonderful job and I was lacking three dolls when they were through: Glinda, the Winged Monkey and the Winkie Guard. For awhile I was completely okay with this, in fact Glinda was the last addition to my Oz collection this year.
The next nudge came in January when I was visiting my pen pal. We were in a bookshop and had come across a copy of "L. Frank Baum: Creator of Oz." I did not buy that day, writing down the ISBN to order it from the store where I work on a later date. I forgot about until nearly June! When I did finally order it and start reading it became painfully obvious to me that I had only read the first book in a very long series.
So I started ordering the books in from the library, thinking "I will save money this way"- thinking I would not like the "new" illustrator, John R. Neill, having always been fond of Denslow's drawings for "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." It took about two books to realize that Neill was more my thing than Denslow. By November I had all 15 of Baum's Oz books. I also picked up the second Marvel comic book (The Marvelous Land of Oz) when it came out in hardcover and a copy of the silent film collection somewhere along the line- and by complete coincidence my godmother gave me a poster book with lovely prints from the MGM film.
Before this, I should mention, my collection was pretty big. I have the 50th movie anniversary commemorative book, the Judy Garland flim, The Wiz (with Diana Ross, of course), the Original Broadway Cast recording of The Wiz, the soundtrack to Wicked along with the Vocal Selections, the book Wicked, the original book, the new Marvel comic in hardcover and a magnet with Ray Boldger's Scarecrow saying "Oh Joy! Rapture! I've got a brain!" (my motto.) As said above... I did not collect these things with the intention of amassing a collection. I got them one by one because I just happen to love Oz in nearly every form it takes.
I still do not really consider myself an Oz collector. I do not desire special editions of any of the forms Oz takes, as long as I have the stories. My copies are all Dover Thrift Editions because they included the original illustrations and were reasonably prices.
There are only a few things I would consider adding to the collection: the soundtrack to the MGM film, the VHS to "The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True" (with Jewel, one of my other guilty pleasures, as Dorothy and Nathan Lane as the Lion) and the next Marvel comic when it comes out in hardcover (Ozma of Oz is possibly my favorite book in the series so it seems a wise investment.)
Other then those? I am over the rainbow already.
It's been a good year, I think. :)
