Lewis, Clive Staples [C.S. Lewis] (1950-56) ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’, complete UK first edition set

Clive Staples (C.S.) Lewis (1950-56) ‘The Chronicles of Narnia‘, the complete set. ALL seven volumes are UK first editions, first printings with the correct and original first issue dust jackets. An amazing collection of one of the most important, most influential and iconic children and fantasy literature of the 20th c. only rivaled by Lewis’ contemporary J.R.R. Tolkien. Highly coveted and rarely offered as a complete set. The set consists of:

1) ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe‘ (1950): in very good condition. There are no previous owners’ names inside the book, no stamps, no bookplates. Pages are clean, no foxing. Slight lean and the boards are faded on the spine and the edges of the front and rear board as shown. Fading to the boards is quite common with this title, especially on the spine. The dust jacket is the original first impression wrapper (no reprint indicated on the front flap, and no other Narnia titles advertised on the rear panel). It is not price clipped displaying the correct first issue 8s 6d net price. The dust jacket has been restored by Richard Reeve a professional restorer of dust jackets (please see information further below). The repair undertaken on this dust jacket involved the closing of tears, and minor filling of chipping and smaller parts.

2) ‘Prince Caspian – The Return to Narnia‘ (1951): in very good condition. There is a short and neat gift inscription on the half title page and previous owner’s name, and a small FOYLES bookseller sticker on the bottom of the ffep. Clean pages, occasional slight foxing. The front board with no issues, the rear board slightly soiled with a slight corner bump. The dust jacket is not price clipped showing the correct 10s 6d net price. Slightly soiled on the rear panel. Very minor restoration to the edges (closing of tears and chips) by the same restoration expert.

3) ‘The Voyage of the Dawn Treader‘ (1952): in near fine condition. No previous owners’ inscriptions of any sorts. Internally clean, no foxing. Slight discolouration to top of front board. The dust jacket is price clipped, but the correct first issue jacket (no mentioning of later impressions on front flap; correct ads of the two previous titles on the rear panel). Minor restoration to the dust jacket (closing of tears and smaller chipping).

4) ‘The Silver Chair‘ (1953): in near fine condition. No previous owners’ scribbles of any sorts. Clean throughout with no foxing and the page block edges very clean. Beautiful boards with just a triffle of fading to the top and foot of spine where the jacket was chipped. The dust jacket is price clipped but the correct first issue with no indication of reprints on the front flap and correct ads of the three previous Narnia titles on the rear panel. The restoration undertaked to the edges involved closing of tears and small chips.

5) The Horse and His Boy‘ (1954): in good condition. Small previous owner’s name on the ffep (above the map). The boards had contact with water resulting in discoluration of a minor section on th front board and about a third of the rear board. The moisture has also warped the baords a little. Internally clean, but the first pages show moisture residue on the top (see picture of title page and copyright page as an example). The dust jacket is not price clipped, first issue with no restoration work done whatsoever. Slight soiling to rear, slight edge wear and a little ink residue on the front panel (slight absorbtion previous owner’s name penned on the ffep).

6) ‘The Magician’s Nephew‘ (1955): in near fine condition. Bookplate to front paste down. Whiff of foxing to front pastedown and endpaper. Otherwise no foxing. Pages and boards clean. Slight shelf wear including a push and discolouration to top of spine. The first issue dust jacket is price clipped and has had very minor restoration done (closing of small tears to folds and repair to small chip of the wrapper’s spine).

7) ‘The Last Battle‘ (1956): in fine condition with no previous owners’ scribbles of any sorts. No foxing, clean throughout. The first issue dust jacket is not price clipped. Just a little darkened on the spine and a triffle of edge wear.

About the restorer, his work, and the effect on value. Richard Reeve is a professional restorer sepcialising in collectable books and dust jackets who has decades of experience restoring dust jackets to their former glory. His work is excellent if not unique in the UK. The restoration service cannot compare with the usual tape repair botch work done by amateurs. It takes days to resore a single jacket and the cost ranges from several hundreds to a four-figure sum for a single wrapper to be restored. The question for the collector is: how do restorations affect the value of the items? Obviously, the closer a book or jacket is to the original state the better, and a wrapper in fine condition will always be more valuable than a wrapper that has been restored and appears in fine condition, but had had some issues before the restoration. That being said, the restoration does not diminish its value especially if done by an expert, and at the very leats the aesthetic appearance of the jacket is enhanced. Ultimately it remains the preference of every single collector.

We have priced the set very competitively and fairly factoring the scarcity and respective condition of each volume. Every single volume has been photographed from all angles including their respective dust jackets to ensure transparency and integrity of our business.