The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe: A Story for Children by Lewis, C. S - 1950

London: Geoffrey Bles, 1950 Illustrated by Pauline Baynes. First edition, first printing, in the first issue dust jacket with "8s. 6d." price to front flap. Publisher's green cloth, lettered in silver to spine; in the original gray dust jacket lettered in black with illustrations by Baynes to the front and spine panels. A very good copy with some light toning to extremities and fading to spine where light has filtered through the white part of the dust jacket, and where the jacket has a bit of paper loss at the spine ends; in a very good dust jacket with light wear and toning to extremities, front panel with a one-inch closed tear through the "L" in "Lion," one wide, shallow chip to the upper right corner, and two half-inch chips to the bottom edge, spine panel with some chipping to both ends including a tear through the word "Lion" at the spine head, loss to spine head and top edge of the rear panel, which has an additional closed tear and a tiny chip to the bottom edge, rear panel also with some light soiling. A nice example in the scarce dust jacket. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is the first and most famous book in C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia series, consisting of seven children's fantasy novels set in the fictional world of Narnia and featuring the same cast of child protagonists. The novel begins when siblings Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy are sent to live with an old professor in the English countryside after wartime activity in London forces them to evacuate. After venturing into an old wardrobe, Lucy, the youngest, finds herself surrounded by magical creatures and talking animals, bewildered and eager to share the world with her siblings, who eventually all embark on fantastical adventures with their younger sister. Notably, readers have identified strong religious themes throughout the text, including Christian allegories and references to biblical stories, despite Lewis's claims that he intended to reference religion in the novel. The story has been adapted a number of times for television, theatre, and film, including a 2005 film of the same name produced by Walt Disney and Walden Media, starring Tilda Swinton and Liam Neeson, which became the third most successful film of the year and grossed more than $700 million.. Illus. by Baynes, Pauline. First Edition.. Hard Cover. Very Good/Dust Jacket Included.