The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe by Lewis, C. S.; Baynes, Pauline (Illustrations) - 1950

New York: The Macmillan Company, 1950. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/very good. Baynes, Pauline. First printing of the first US edition, octavo size, 160 pp. Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) is perhaps best known for his fantasy series "The Chronicles of Narnia" which opens with this volume. Adapted to both stage and screen, most recently in 2005, which (similar to the Tolkien movies) brought a fresh audience to Lewis and the land of Narnia. Loved by many, the book "was ranked ninth on the BBC's The Big Read poll...Time magazine included the novel in its list of the 100 Best Young-Adult Books of All Time, as well as its list of the 100 best English-language novels published since 1923" (n.b., quote per Wiki).

This the first printing (stated on the copyright page) of the first US edition, which was published the same year as the true (British) first edition (Geoffrey Bles), with the same cover illustration by Pauline Baynes.

___DESCRIPTION: Bound in full blue cloth over boards, vignette stamped in yellow and dark blue onto the front board of a deer leaping through some trees, dark blue lettering stamped onto the spine with the title over a yellow rectangular "label", title page vignette, black-and-white illustrations throughout, both full-page and in-text; octavo size (8 1/4" by 5 1/2"), pagination: [i-vi] 1-154. In the original dust jacket of blue with a vignette on a white ground on the front panel in green, black, and tan, blue lettering above and below, blue lettering on the spine, summary of book on the front flap with the printed price of $2.50 at the bottom (top corner clipped), one of the illustrations (the children having tea with Mr. and Mrs. Beaver) on the back panel with a quote below.

___CONDITION: Volume is near fine, with clean boards, straight corners with minimal rubbing, a strong, square text block with solid hinges, the interior is clean and bright, and entirely free of prior owner markings; a hint of sunning along the top and bottom edges of the boards and light residue (glue) along the joints, else fine. The dust jacket very good, clean, printed price present, with sunning to the spine, light sunning to the front panel, perimeter sunning to the back panel, overall edgewear including a half-inch closed tear at the bottom of the front joint and a small chip out of the head of the spine (just touching the "C" in the author's name), note that a prior owner affixed cello tape to the verso at the head of the spine, the tape now gone.

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