LEWIS, C. S. (1898-1963). The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, London, 1950, 8vo, coloured frontispiece and illustrations by Pauline Baynes, original cloth, grey dust-jacket (torn with some loss). THE FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST "NARNIA" NOVEL. RARE.

LEWIS, C. S. (1898-1963).  The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. A Story for Children. London: Geoffrey Bles, 1950. 8vo (198 x 135mm). Half title, coloured frontispiece and monochrome illustrations, some full-page, by Pauline Baynes. Original turquoise cloth, the spine lettered in silver (corners lightly bumped, some patches of discolouration to spine and corners), grey dust-jacket with an oval coloured illustration on the upper wrapper by Pauline Baynes and a smaller illustration on the backstrip with the price of 8s.6d. unclipped and with the other turn-in blank except for the tiny printed code "APT/S573" at the foot (the dust-jacket torn with several small sections lacking, but only affecting letters at the foot of the backstrip with the loss of "B" and "L" of Bles, a hole at the centre of the backstrip, a few short tears, some very light staining). Provenance: "Spark" (juvenile pencil signature at head of front free endpaper). THE FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST OF THE SEVEN "CHRONICLES OF NARNIA" NOVELS, AND ARGUABLY THE AUTHOR'S MOST FAMOUS WORK. Internally, this copy is in remarkably clean and fresh condition. "In all other fields of writing [i.e. apart from his works of Christian apologetics] [C. S. Lewis] established classics, too - literary criticism, science fiction, philosophy and children's books. Certainly, if all the children of my acquaintance are anything to go by, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe will be around for ever" (Joseph Connolly, Modern First Editions). "With The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (1950) [Lewis] began a series of seven 'Narnia' stories for children ..." (The Oxford Companion to English Literature (ed. Drabble, 1985)). RARE. Grolier One Hundred Books Famous in Children's Literature 90; Cotsen Children's Library 6446.