The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Deluxe Signed Limited Edition Pop-Up)

The story

Here is the short version of how this book exists at all. In 1900, L. Frank Baum published "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," with those now-iconic illustrations by W. W. Denslow. A hundred years later, in 2000, Robert Sabuda — a paper engineer who had already spent a career proving that a flat page could become architecture — built a pop-up adaptation to mark that centennial. The text is a shorter version of Baum's original, and the artwork is rendered in the style of Denslow, so the thing reads like the 1900 book reincarnated as a piece of kinetic sculpture. The publishing side is worth getting right, because it's part of what makes this particular copy special. The trade commemorative pop-up (the open edition, sixteen pages) is the one most people have held — and it is rightly celebrated; reviewers have called it among Sabuda's finest, his masterpiece. Above that sits a two-tier limited structure. There's a signed and numbered slipcase edition limited to 200 copies. And then, above THAT, the pinnacle: a deluxe issue of only 50 copies, created by Simon & Schuster (Little Simon) exclusively for Books of Wonder, the legendary New York children's bookstore. Each of the 50 is hand-numbered and signed by Sabuda. Both limited tiers also carry an extra pop-up that the trade edition simply does not have, hidden behind a door in the front board. Now the maker. Robert Sabuda is, plainly, the most decorated paper engineer of his generation. He has been awarded the Meggendorfer Prize for Best Paper Engineering three times by the Movable Book Society. In 2003 The New York Times called him "indisputably the king of pop-ups," and that phrase has followed him ever since because it's simply accurate. His work is collected institutionally too — a Robert Sabuda Pop-Up Book Collection lives at the St. Louis Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. When you hold one of these, you are holding the high-water mark of an art form, signed by the person who set the mark.

What makes this one special

Let me walk you through what actually happens when you open it, because the engineering is the whole point. Every spread carries a large central pop-up — these are full architectural events, not little flaps. The signatures of the book are the ones you'll have heard about: a cyclone that twists and spins as the page opens, the kind of thing that makes you turn back a page just to watch it collapse and rise again. The Wizard's hot-air balloon, which pops up and rotates right there in the gutter of the spread. And the Emerald City itself — an elaborate, towering build shrouded in holographic and colored foil so it genuinely glitters. There's a tactile trick I love: the book includes removable green "Emerald City" eyeglasses, and when you put them on and look at the city pop-up, the whole thing washes entirely green — exactly the way Baum's story describes the spectacles the citizens wear. You become a character in the book for a second. It is a delightful, slightly silly, perfect touch. Then there's the depth most people miss. On most spreads, Sabuda mounts side miniature booklets and envelopes — little secondary surfaces with their own small pop-ups and surprises folded inside. So the book keeps unfolding beyond its main spreads; you finish a page, then realize there's a whole second layer to open. What sets THIS deluxe copy apart from even the 200-copy edition is the packaging and the extras, and it's layered like a set of nesting dolls. The book is bound in full green cloth with a gilt-stamped spine. The front cover carries a mounted pictorial POP-UP limitation — Sabuda signs and numbers that pop-up, and it sits behind a small door in the front board, which is also where the bonus pop-up (the one absent from the trade edition) lives. The book then nests inside a matching green cloth slipcase, and the front of that slipcase holds a separate, signed-and-numbered Sabuda print — a woodcut/Denslow-style print — cleverly encased in an inlaid folding holder. That extra print is the single feature the 200-copy edition does not have; it is what makes a deluxe a deluxe. Finally, the whole assembly sits inside the original publisher's green cloth clamshell box, which bears a paper label matching the copy's limitation number. Three layers of green cloth, two signatures, a bonus pop-up, and an exclusive print, all keyed to one hand-written number.

Why people love it

I'm not going to pretend my opinion is the only one that matters here, and on this book I don't have to — the consensus is strong and it isn't just sentiment. The trade edition is the entry point for most of the love: the pop-up review community rates it 9 out of 10 and ranks it #4 on their all-time top-ten list, and the official publisher copy itself promises a piece "certain to find an honored place on the family bookshelf." That phrase gets quoted a lot because owners find it turns out to be true. And the affection for the format runs deep enough that serious collectors talk about advanced pop-ups as a category and put this one near the front. The throughline in everything people say is the same thing I felt: Sabuda earned the crown, the engineering holds up to repeat viewing, and the green-foil Emerald City is the moment that converts skeptics.

Tips & little secrets

• ✶Open and close it slowly, always supporting the spread from underneath with a flat hand. Sabuda's large central pops are engineered to take a smooth open — but a fast or one-handed page turn is how the delicate cyclone and balloon mechanisms get crushed. Let the paper do the work; never force a page flat.
• ✶Don't skip the side envelopes and miniature booklets. On most spreads there are mounted secondary surfaces hiding small pop-ups — explore each one gently before moving on, or you'll literally miss half the book.
• ✶For display, stand it open to a single spread on a book cradle or easel rather than laying it flat or forcing it fully open — and keep it out of direct sunlight. Foil and colored paper fade, and the Emerald City's holographic/colored foil is exactly what you want to protect.
• ✶Keep the green 'Emerald City' eyeglasses and the signed slipcase print stored back in their holders when not in use. On the deluxe copy those loose pieces — plus the clamshell box with its matching numbered label — are part of what makes it complete; a stray glasses pair or a separated print diminishes the whole.
• ✶Handle it in a clean, dry space with clean hands, and rotate which spread you display every so often. Spreading the open-time across pages keeps any one mechanism from bearing all the wear.

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