[MERE CHRISTIANITY] BROADCAST TALKS; CHRISTIAN BEHAVIOUR; BEYOND PERSONALITY.

First editions, first printings. Association copies. Complete in three volumes. Publisher's original cloth, in dustwrappers. A very good set. 'Broadcast Talks' is printed on thin wartime paper and without free endpapers, as issued. The bindings are firm with a little bumping to the extremities, the cloth with a touch of spotting or the odd light mark are clean and fresh. The contents, all with the ownership inscription of Leonard Blake, to the pastedown in 'Broadcast Talks', to the endpapers of 'Christian Behaviour' and 'Beyond Personality'. 'Broadcast Talks' and 'Christian Behaviour' are additionally inscribed by Blake on the front panels of the dustwrapper. All volumes have a little light spotting to the closed text-block edges and are sparsely highlighted and annotated in pencil by Blake throughout. Complete with the rubbed, nicked and creased dustwrappers, that of 'Broadcast Talks' with small chips and tears to the spine, and uniformly toned. All remain unclipped, each priced 2s 6d on the front flaps.

James Welch, the Director of Religious Broadcasting at the BBC had been impressed by C. S. Lewis's 1940 book 'The Problem of Pain' and wrote to him asking if he would be interested in giving a series of live broadcasts on Christianity, to which Lewis responded enthusiastically. The resulting talks, each lasting between 10 and 15 minutes proved popular with the the public, with some earning over 1.5 million listeners. Four series of talks were broadcast between 1941 and 1944, coming to nearly six hours of audio. The broadcasts, revised and expanded by Lewis, are published in print here for the first time. 'Broadcast Talks' contains two parts, the first a philosophical argument for the existence of God and the second a brief attempt to pin down and advocate Christian thought and ideology. 'Christian Bahavior' consists of 12 sections which explore Christian ethics. 'Beyond Personality' contains talks on the Christian idea of God and of man's relationship to God. The broadcasts were combined and published in one volume in 1952 under the title 'Mere Christianity', which has come to be considered a classic of Christian literature. Excellent association copies. From the library of the author's friend Leonard James Blake. Blake was the husband of Maureen Moore (later Lady Dunbar of Hempriggs), one of the most significant figures in C. S. Lewis' life, a friend and surrogate sister with whom he lived for over 20 years. Maureen and Leonard Blake were married (with Lewis' encouragement) in 1940. Both were teachers, lake was a music teacher and for more than two decades the Director of Music at Malvern College (Lewis was educated at Malvern, and it is widely recognised that his time there, in particular the gas lamps and landscape, helped inspire the Chronicles of Narnia). Leonard and Maureen had two children, Lewis was godfather to their son Richard. They maintained a close friendship for the rest of Lewis' life. Leonard passed away in 1989 and Maureen in 1997, the final passages of 'The Last Battle' were read at her funeral.