Customer Reviews

The Call of the Wild: Annotated and Illustrated

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If you just want a copy of _The Call of the Wild_, to give to a friend, say, this is the one to get.

The elegant Library of America edition of "London: Novels and Stories" has three complete novels _The Call of the Wild_, _White Fang_, _The Sea-Wolf_, and a very well chosen selection of stories. It's great. Viking's _The Portable Jack London_, is cheap and excellent; it's edited by Earle Labor, has _The Call of the Wild_, and an excellent selection of short stories, nonfiction, and letters. If you want copies of _The Call of the Wild_ to give to LOTS of friends, the Dover Thrift Edition is just a buck.

But if you want _just_ The Call of the Wild, this edition is nice enough to give as a gift, is clear and legible, and has just the right amount of pictures and annotations. Not a scholarly work, but every time you get to one of those places where you have a question--where was Dyea? What was the "Chinese lottery?" Could a dog really pull a thousand pound sled? there's Dyer with the answer.

If you're interested in Jack London, take a look at the alt.books.jack-london Internet discussion group--see "about me" for details.

The Call of the Wild is such a classic that it's hard to believe anyone hasn't read it -- adult, child, everyone should read this delightful book! Sometimes it's hard to read about animals who are mistreated, but there is a higher purpose to the mistreatment in this book, and for the most part everyone gets his just due.

This edition is fine. Lots of information as other reviewers have noted, but I would not call it an illustrated book. Where are the illustrations? There are maps and old photographs, but no illustrations as such. I wish there was an illustrated edition of this book such as the Templar edition of Jack London's White Fang (2008, illustrated by Helen Ward, ISBN 978-1-84011-984-8), such a beautiful book, one to keep and eventually pass on to another book lover. But the bottom line is: any edition of The Call of the Wild (in it's original language) is a delight.