The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. A Story For Children. Illustrations Pauline Baynes. 1950 First Edition with 5th Imp. Dustwrapper. by LEWIS, C. S.:

London Geoffrey Bles, 1950 1st edition.. Hardback, 8 x 5.5 inches. Light blue cloth with silver lettering to spine. In illustrated (grey) dustwrapper. In very good condition with very good dustwrapper (DW: later 5th impression, very small chip/tear to top of spine. Flap price clipped. In protective sleeve. Code on rear flap “APT/X727.”) Cloth faded around spine and edges, with some darkening and spots, mostly to spine. Neat pen inscription to front endpapers”E.C.R.24,” “Martha and William Harnell.” A couple of very small foxing spots to inscribed area. One faint mark to bottom of p58, else inside pages all very clean, bright and tight throughout. A very good 1st edition copy. 173pp. Colour frontis & b&w illustrations by PAULINE BAYNES. Published in 1950 and set circa 1940, it is the first-published book of The Chronicles of Narnia and is the best known book of the series. World War II has just begun and four children, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy Pevensie, are evacuated from London in 1940 to escape the Blitz. They are sent to live with Professor Digory Kirke, who lives in a country house in the English countryside with his housekeeper, Mrs Macready. The next day it rains and the children decide to explore the house. Lucy, the youngest, is curious about the wardrobe in an empty room, and discovers that it is a portal to a snow-covered forest with a gaslight post in the center.