LEWIS, C. S. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. London: Geoffrey Bles, 1950.
First edition, first impression of C. S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first of the seven Chronicles of Narnia to be published and one of the defining works of twentieth-century children’s literature. The British edition appeared in 1950 and preceded the American edition.
Illustrated throughout by Pauline Baynes, with the celebrated colour frontispiece and numerous black-and-white illustrations within the text. Baynes’s drawings became inseparable from Lewis’s vision of Narnia and accompanied the series from its first appearance.
This copy has been exceptionally presented in a handsome full dark green morocco binding. The boards are framed with double gilt fillets and decorative gilt corner tools, while the spine is formed with five raised bands and richly decorated compartments incorporating elaborate gilt floral and snowflake-style motifs. The title and author are lettered in gilt, with the publication date, 1950, tooled at the foot. Finished with finely marbled endpapers.
