Hidden Valley of Oz
Author: Rachel Ruth Cosgrove Payes (1922-1998)
Date: 1951
Publisher: The Reilly & Lee Co
Place: Chicago
Description:
313 pages with illustrations by Dirk Gringhuis. Roya; octavo (9 1/4" x 6 3/4") bound in original publisher's blue cloth with spine pictorially stamped in black and color pictorial paper label affixed to front. Pictorial endpapers; numerous black and white illustrations. First edition.
The Hidden Valley of Oz (1951) is the thirty-ninth book in the Oz series created by L. Frank Baum and his successors. It was written by Rachel R.C. Payes and illustrated by Dirk Gringhuis. The book was followed twelve years later by Merry Go Round in Oz (1963).
Jonathan Andrew Manley, nicknamed Jam, is a boy from Ohio, the son of a biologist. At the start of the story, he is building a "collapsible kite" from plans he found in a popular magazine. Rather than cutting the pieces of his wooden frame to match the plans, however, he scales up the kite to match the size of his wood, yielding an extra-large result. The size of the thing inspires him to try to fly on it; he attaches a shipping crate, and gathers up three of his father's experimental animals (two guinea pigs and a white laboratory rat). A strong gust of wind lifts kite, crate, and passengers into the sky; Jam is on his way to the Land of Oz.
Condition: Endpapers lightly soiled, some smudges on text pages, closed tear at heal page 233/34 not affecting text, page ends foxed, inner hinges cracked. Jacket with a tape repair tear at hinge, edge wear with chips, two inch by half inch chip to front heal edge, spine ends with chips else good in an about very good jacket.
