[Juvenile] [Children's Literature] The Last Battle [Chronicles Of Narnia]

London: The Bodley Head, 1968. Early Reprint. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. Sixth Printing. Small 8vo, 184pp, with illustrations by Pauline Baynes. Publisher's grey cloth, the spine titled gilt, in a bright pictorial dust jacket priced at 13s/6d. Fine (and probably unread) in a Fine jacket with some smudges to the white back panel. The seventh title (of seven) in the Narnia series, which chronicles the end of Narnia and the arrival of Eustace and Jill in a New Narnia (heaven), where they truly live happily ever after. A key issue regarding the Chronicles involves the order in which they should be read. Originally the books were numbered in order of publication, and so had to be read in that order. From the mid-1970s onwards some voices began urging that they be renumbered, and read in the order in which events occur in the stories . . . These voices have won out, at least to the extent that the new, worldwide edition of the Chronicles issued in 1994 is arranged in that order." But most scholars advocate reading the series in order of publication. "To read one of the other books before The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe sacrifices narrative strategies Lewis consciously or unconsciously built into it as the first book about Narnia, strategies he used to introduce readers gradually to the world of Narnia and to the mysterious character Aslan. Likewise, the fullest imaginative experiencing of The Magician's Nephew comes through reading it as a flashback, for that is the way Lewis thought of it as he wrote the book." (Literary Encyclopedia) N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, with dust jackets carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).