Mary Poppins, Mary Poppins Comes Back, Mary Poppins Opens the Door, Mary Poppins in the Park

New York: Book of the Month Club, 2000. Hardcover. New/New. Mary Shephard. A nice set of the first four "Mary Poppins" books P.L. Travers wrote, between 1934 and 1952. These were re-published by the Book of the Month Club in 2000 as reproductions of the original editions, complete with the illustrations by Mary Shepherd, who did the pen-and-ink illustrations for all eight of the original books. (And when we say these are "reproductions," that means the first book includes the "Bad Tuesday" chapter as it was originally published. In that chapter, Mary Poppins produces a magical compass that takes the children to the four corners of the earth, where they meet people from representative cultures. But for Travers, "representative" meant stereotypes that produced controversy even when the book was published in 1934! She rewrote the chapter twice over the years to respond to criticism, and Shepherd changed her pictures, but be aware that this edition contains the original versions of both words and illustrations.) If you've only seen the famous Walt Disney movie, then you're aware that Mary Poppins arrives in the beginning leaves in the end. She repeats the pattern for Mary Poppins Comes Back and Mary Poppins Opens the Door, but by the time Travers wrote Mary Poppins in the Park, she had decided, as she put in the preface, "[Mary Poppins] cannot forever arrive and depart," and instead wrote this book, and the rest of the eight, as if the stories told were adventures that took place during the first three books that simply went unrecorded earlier. Though, as it says in the front matter of all the books, "This edition was specially created in 2000 by arrangement with Book-of-the-Month-Club..." with arrangement with each book's respective publisher, the original publication information is also included. Each book is also a nice size to fit into little hands...or, for that matter, comfortable into the single hand of an adult fan! A set like this is great for a collector, but because they are reproductions, they are also reasonably priced for the common reader. These editions do not have ISBN numbers. Mary Poppins was originally published in 1934, Mary Poppins Comes Back in 1935, and Mary Poppins Opens the Door in 1943, all three by Reynal & Hitchcock. Mary Poppins in the Park was published in 1952 by Harcourt, Brace & World.