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LEWIS, C[LIVE]. S[TAPLES]. (1898-1963). Irish author, professor and Christian apologist. ALS. (“C.S. Lewis”). 1p. 4to. Oxford, April 18, 1950. On his Magdalen College Oxford stationery. To Miss McEwan.

I have not heard about any uniform edition of C.W.’s complete works. Faber is republishing the novels, I’m told, but whether uniform or not I don’t know. The novels are also being republished in U.S.A. but in the present state of the £ I expect that edition wd. be fabulously expensive for us. There is no talk of any new edition of The Region.In fact, the prospect is bleak! Logres is two syllables with the accent on the first and roughly rhymes with ogress. Charles himself (and most people, tho’ not all) pronounced Broceliande as four syllables with the accent on the second – Bross-élly-and. The English pronunciation of Logres (as offered to either the French or Welsh) is from J. Milton’s line in P[aradise] Regained By knights of Logres or of Lyonesse. Yours sincerely…  

Fantastical or serious, C.S. Lewis’s witty and penetrating works are noted for their original treatment of Christian and moral themes. A tutor and professor at both Oxford and Cambridge, Lewis was also the author of numerous stories and essays. Among his best-known works are The Allegory of Love, a study of courtly love in the middle ages, English Literature in the Sixteenth Century and the immensely popular children’s series The Chronicles of Narnia, legends set in the mythical kingdom of that name. During the 1930s and ‘40s Lewis belonged to a group of writers and intellectuals known as The Inklings whose members included the philosopher Owen Barfield, Oxford professor J.R.R. Tolkien and Oxford University Press reader Charles Williams (1886-1945), discussed in our letter. Tolkien, Lewis and Williams were profoundly spiritual men whose Christianity deeply affected their writing. Williams’ works, influenced by the Arthurian legend, include Taliessin through Logres and The Region of the Summer Stars (referred to in our letter) in which he wrote about Brocéliande, the mythical forest at the center of the Arthurian story. Williams penned an introduction to a 1940 Oxford University Press edition of the poetry of John Milton (1608-1674) and Lewis’s preface to Paradise Lost is still considered one of that work’s most authoritative commentaries. Folded and in fine condition. Framed. Lewis is very rare and desirable.

Item #14286

Price: $4,500