THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS

First edition, first printing. Signed by the author. Inscribed, association copy. Publisher's original black cloth with titles printed in black and green on a white paper label to the spine, in dustwrapper. A lovely near fine copy, the binding square and firm with a little rubbing to the spine tips and board corners, cloth bright and fresh, as is the paper label to the spine. The contents, with some very faint spotting to the closed text-block edge, are otherwise clean throughout. Complete with the very good rubbed, nicked and spine darkened dustwrapper that has a few short closed tears, repaired with small pieces of tape to the underside, and the small ownership name of Leonard Blake in blue ink to the front panel. Not price-clipped (5s net to the front flap).

Inscribed by author in black ink on the front free endpaper "Leonard Blake / from C. S. L. / with kind regards March 1942". The recipient Leonard James Blake, was the husband of Maureen Moore (later Lady Dunbar of Hempriggs), one of the most significant figures in Lewis' life, a friend and surrogate sister with whom he lived for over 20 years. C. S. 'Jack' Lewis first met the Moore family at the age of 18 whilst at the Officers Training Corps, Keble College, Oxford. Janie Moore was the mother of Jack's friend and roommate Paddy, and Maureen, then 11, his sister. They lived nearby the college and quickly became welcome, stable fixtures in Jack's life. Lewis' own mother had died young - he wrote in 'Surprised by Joy' that with his mother's death "all settled happiness, all that was tranquil and reliable, disappeared from my life" - while his father was notably distant and disinterested. In November 1917, when Paddy and Jack were sent to the front line, they made a pact to look after each other's families if either of them didn't return home. Jack was quickly wounded, hospitalised in France and then sent back to England to recover. Paddy was killed in action at Pargny, he was only 19 years of age. True to his word Jack moved in with Maureen and Janie, first living in a series of rented houses in Oxford before they, along with his brother Warren (Warnie), purchased 'The Kilns' on the outskirts of the city in 1930. Maureen remained at 'The Kilns' with her mother and the Lewis brothers until she married Leonard James Blake (with Jack's encouragement) in 1940 at age 33. Blake was a music teacher and for more than two decades the Director of Music at Malvern College (both Lewis boys were educated at Malvern, and it is widely recognised that Jack's time there, in particular the gas lamps and landscape, helped inspire the Chronicles of Narnia). Leonard and Maureen had two children, Jack Lewis was godfather to their son Richard. Jack and Janie lived together at 'The Kilns' until 1951, when after developing dementia Janie was moved to a nursing home. Jack visited her every day until her death later that same year. It has been suggested that the complicated characters of 'mother' in 'The Screwtape Letters' (1942) and Pam in 'The Great Divorce' (1945) are partly based on Janie. In 1963 Maureen inherited a baronetcy and its attached Scottish estate through her father's line, making her one of only four baronetesses in British history. They maintained a close friendship with Lewis for the rest of his life. Leonard passed away in 1989 and Maureen in 1997, the final passages of 'The Last Battle' were read at her funeral. Presentation copies of the first printing of Lewis' masterpiece of satirical fiction are exceedingly rare. Just one inscribed first edition is recorded at auction since publication (Christies, South Kensington, 11 November 1992, Lot 106: The Property of the late John Arlott, O.B.E. English Literature). The dedication copy (inscribed for J. R. R. Tolkien) is also known to have changed hands a couple of times, alas not ours.