The Chronicles of Narnia Complete Seven Volume Set. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; Price Caspian; The Voyage of the Dawn Treader; The Silver Chair; The Horse and His Boy; The Magician’s Nephew; The Last Battle. London: Geoffrey Bles/The Bodley Head,(1950-1956). All First Edition, First Printings. Bound in full burgundy morocco, gilt titles to the spine, raised bands, gilt signature to each front panel, marbled endpapers. Generally a fine bright set.

With illustrations by Pauline Baynes. Signature of C.S. Lewis on label to front pastedown of ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.’

The Narnia series captivates all but the most unyielding sceptics of imagination, and stands as perhaps the most enduring and masterful contribution to children’s fantasy literature by a twentieth-century author. Beloved by both young readers and scholars, these books remain highly collectible, consistently in demand, and increasingly rare.

Born in Belfast, Clive Staples Lewis was one of the most influential Christian writers and thinkers of the 20th century. His early life was marked by tragedy. His mother died of cancer when he was nine, and he was sent to boarding schools in England, which he hated. After serving in the trenches of World War I, he became a scholar at Oxford University, where he excelled as a tutor in English language and literature. Lewis was a central member of the “Inklings,” an informal literary group at Oxford that included his close friend J.R.R. Tolkien.