Anne of Green Gables: Three Volumes in One is an omnibus edition of Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, and Anne’s House of Dreams that was published as a jacketed hardcover by Avenel Books in 1986; the volume was later reprinted by Gramercy Books with a new dust jacket featuring Megan Follows as Anne. It was followed by two more omnibus volumes by Avenel Books/Gramercy Books: Days of Dreams and Laughter: The Story Girl and Other Tales (1990) and Anne of the Island and Tales of Avonlea (1991).
{ Anne of Green Gables } { Anne of Green Gables: Editions } { Anne of Avonlea } { Anne of Avonlea: Editions } { Anne’s House of Dreams } { Anne’s House of Dreams: Editions } { Random House } { Editions: 1980–1989 }
Cover of Anne of Green Gables: Three Volumes in One, published by Gramercy Books in 1986. The cover image is a photograph of Megan Follows, who appeared as Anne Shirley in Sullivan Entertainment’s miniseries Anne of Green Gables.
Author
Lucy Maud Montgomery
Title
Anne of Green Gables: Three Volumes in One
Contributor
Language
English
Country
United States of America
Publisher Location
New York
Publisher
Avenel Books/Gramercy Books, imprints of Random House
Publication Date
Format
Print, jacketed hardcover, 6” x 9”, xviii + 634 pp.
Illustrator
George Gibbs
Front Cover Copy
Anne of Green Gables the Kevin Sullivan television production is based on Lucy Maud Montgomery’s original novel
Dust Jacket Flap Copy
Mark Twain proclaimed Anne Shirley “the most moving and delightful” and “dearest” heroine “since the immortal Alice.” Millions of readers, young and old, in countries all over the world, have agreed; particularly those hovering on the brink of their teens have followed her dauntless leadership into those years of excitement, pain, and discovery, finding her a source of endless fascination, humor, inspiration, and reassurance.
Anne’s romantic soul, her idealism, and her adventurous spirit often lead her into mishaps, but she always survives, learning from her experiences, and the reader does too, while enjoying her marvelous adventures. Fiercely independent and outspoken, Anne is not afraid of conflicts with her elders—this, in an age (the early 1900s) when children were supposed to be “seen and not heard.” But Anne’s bright intelligence, honesty, and resourcefulness are impossible to defeat, and she carries the day. Her story spoke to the readers of the time, as it does still, to the young, and the young at heart, today.
Anne of Green Gables, the first novel, introduces our lively heroine at age eleven, fresh from an orphanage, when she must win the right to stay at Green Gables with the taciturn Matthew Cuthbert and his reserved sister, Marilla, and takes her into her teens. In Anne of Avonlea, she is the village schoolteacher and the story takes her up to her preparations to enter college. Finally, Anne’s House of Dreams, the most romantic and, many believe, the best of the Anne books, finds Anne, now a lovely young woman, on the verge of her marriage to a young doctor whom she has known and loved for years, and describes the fulfillment of her dreams of romance and career, in a village peopled with memorable character.
This volume is uniquely illustrated with period drawings that evoke the era in which Anne was created and were taken from books and magazines of the day. One can do no better than to quote an editorial from one of those magazines, The Housewife, in describing Anne: “Droll one minute, pathetic the next; staid and wise as a grandmother one minute, bubbling over with impish mischief the next,” but always “lovable.” Contemporary readers will find her just as engaging, as they follow her from lonely waif to fulfilled young woman.
Lucy Maud Montgomery created a heroine in Anne, who resembled the author in many ways. Born on Prince Edward Island in 1874, Montgomery lost her mother at two and was raised by grandparents on their farm. She worked as a teacher on the island, then later became a newspaperwoman in Halifax. In 1911, she married the Rev. Ewan Macdonald, a Presbyterian minister. She was an incredibly prolific writer, creating more than a thousand stories, poems, articles, and other works.
Contents
(i) [Half-Title Page]
(ii) [Frontispiece Image: “Anne balanced herself upright on that precarious footing”]
(iii) [Title Page]
(iv) [Copyright Page]
(v) [Epigraph to Anne of Green Gables]
(vi) [Blank Page]
(vii) Dedicatory Note
(viii) [Blank Page]
(ix) Contents
(x) [Blank Page]
(xi–xvi) Introduction / Ellen S. Shapiro
(xvii) [Half-Title Page]
(xviii) [Blank Page]
(1) Anne of Green Gables [Title Page]
(2) [Blank Page]
(3–240) [Anne of Green Gables, chapters 1–38]
(241) Anne of Avonlea [Title Page]
(242) [Blank Page]
(243–446) [Anne of Avonlea, chapters 1–30]
(447) Anne’s House of Dreams [Title Page]
(448) [Blank Page]
(449–634) [Anne’s House of Dreams, chapters 1–40]
ISBN
0-517-60517-1
Notes
The dedications appearing in all three volumes are quoted and summarized in “Dedicatory Note.” The epigraph to Anne of Green Gables is included at the beginning of the volume, but the epigraphs to Anne of Avonlea and Anne’s House of Dreams are omitted.
Sources
A copy of the fortieth printing (undated) by Gramercy Books is in the site owner’s personal collection; the scanned cover above is of that copy. Thanks to Rosemary Park for providing me with additional information about these editions.