Del Rey Books is a paperback-book imprint that published new editions of the Oz books of L. Frank Baum and Ruth Plumly Thompson in the later twentieth century. The Del Rey editions omit the color plates of the originals but feature the drawings of John R. Neill, plus dramatic new cover-art paintings by Michael Herring.
The first of Del Rey's Thompson titles appeared in 1985; at that point in time, her works had been out of print since the 1960s.
Del Rey was formed in 1977 as a imprint of Ballantine Books, by editors Judy-Lynn and Lester del Rey; it concentrated on science fiction and fantasy titles, and published a roster of significant figures, from Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov to Terry Brooks and Ann McCaffery, among many others. The imprint continues as a division of Random House.
