When in Amsterdam ...

In 2006 Eric Shanower journeyed to the site of the ancient city of Troy in northern Turkey. You can read his great report on his travels by Clicking Here. There are a lot of great photos, and a lot of terrific background information on Eric's Eisner Award-winning series Age of Bronze. You can also see photos of the all-blond Eric Shanower.

On the way home from Turkey Eric had to change planes in Amsterdam and he had a several hour layover. And knowing I have a fondness for foreign editions of the Oz books, Eric wandered into an antiquarian bookstore and found me a present! A copy of the 1940 Dutch translation of The Wizard of Oz titled De Grote Tovenaar van Oz. Hooray!

This edition is translated by Henrik Scholte and features handsome pictorial endpapers and many black and white illustrations by Rein Van Looy. This translation and Van Looy's illustrations have been reprinted multiple times most notably in the 1962 and 1971 editions of Wizard.

While Van Looy's cover is very much inspired by the 1939 MGM Wizard of Oz film, his interior illustrations are much more his own. Interestingly, Rein Van Looy also illustrated the 1959 Dutch translation of Eloise Jarvis McGraw's Moccasin Trail.

Needless to say I was very pleased with my present. But do take a few minutes and read Eric's account of finding it in Amsterdam - or better yet read the whole travelogue!

Dag!