The Chronicles of Narnia Bundle (First Edition Paperbacks) + Rare BBC Schools Activity Booklet

A lovely bundle of four first paperback editions relating to The Chronicles of Narnia, alongside a rare BBC-produced classroom activity booklet issued in connection with the first radio drama serialisation of The Tales of Narnia broadcast. Included are:

1. A very scarce Tales of Narnia Spring 1988 Booklet (A4 size), produced as a practical classroom resource and filled with ideas designed to encourage children's enjoyment of the Narnia stories while supporting discussion, art and craft work, evaluation, and creative writing. The booklet includes an eight-page centre inset with an introduction to C. S. Lewis and a contemporary booklist, with all page references keyed to the paperback editions of the stories. Published in London by BBC Publications in 1987 at the request of the Educational Broadcasting Council for the UK, it was intended for circulation in schools to accompany the first radio drama serialisation of The Tales of Narnia broadcast the same year. Conceived primarily as an educational resource for BBC School Radio, both The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and The Magician's Nephew were directed by Geoffrey Marshall-Taylor.
2. LEWIS, C. S.  The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1959. First paperback edition of the author's classic fantasy novel. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes. A well-loved copy, with binding with a light lean but firm, covers and text block slightly yellowed, small abrasion to upper-left porton of the front cover, a little wear to joints and corners, with small ownership inscription in pen to front page (M. Allaby, Nov. 59).
3. LEWIS, C. S.  The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. London: Lions, 1988. First television tie-in special paperback edition. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes, with 8 additional pages featuring many photographs from the 1988 BBC TV series. A very good copy, slightly worn to corners, a little tanned with a few foxing spots to the closed text block and pages throughout; else clean and uninscribed.
4. SIMMONS, Martha C.  A Guide Through Narnia, with complete Index of Names & Places, plus Map & Chronology. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1979. First paperback edition of one of the first in-depth studies of C.S. Lewis's seven Chronicles of Narnia. A very good copy, slightly worn to corners, a little tanned to the closed text block and pages throughout; else clean and uninscribed.
5. HOOPER, Walter.  Past Watchful Dragons: A Guide to C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. London: Fount Paperbacks, 1980. First paperback edition (published in the US a year earlier) of the revised and expanded essay of the same name that appeared in Imagination and the Spirit by Charles Huttar in 1971. A very good copy, slightly worn to corners and extremities, a little tanned to the closed text block and pages throughout; else clean and uninscribed.
   

From the extensive C. S. Lewis collection of Mark Allaby; a collector, writer and poet who has contributed several pieces to Mythlore, a scholarly journal that focuses heavily on the works of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams. The first paperback edition of The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe, inscribed in 1959, may well have been Allaby's very first Lewis book, marking the beginning of a lifelong interest in Lewis’ work.