OUT OF THE SILENT PLANET - PUBLISHER'S GALLEY by Lewis, C.S - 1943

New York: The Macmillan Company, 1943. First American Edition. Narrow quarto (29.75cm); publisher's galley sheets (rectos only), tape-bound into brown paper (front wrapper) and stiff cardboard (rear cover), with penciled title written at upper front wrapper and two large review labels to same; 113 leaves. Shallow bump to base of spine, subtle tanning to text edges, with toning, dust-soil, and a few small losses to front wrapper; ink ownership signature of J. Wibberly to preliminary leaf, tentative date (Sept.21) and price ($2.00) in pencil following half-title page, else clean internally; Very Good+. Pre-publication galley of this key early Lewis work, and the first volume in his "Space Trilogy" featuring Dr. Elwin Ransom, a middle-aged Philologist at Cambridge who travels from earth to Mars (the "Silent Planet"), where he encounters an advanced Martian society. "With the publication of Out of the Silent Planet Lewis found that he could incorporate Christian theology in fiction in a way that might almost be described as subliminal" (Brown, p.35). A well-preserved copy, quite scarce in this advance format. cf.Brown 13; Hooper 5; Bleiler (1978 ed.), p.123.