An Open Letter To My Niece And To All Who Are About To Read The Chronicles of Narnia For The First Time

An Open Letter To My Niece And To All Who Are About To Read The Chronicles of Narnia For The First Time

My Dearest Niece,

When you visited us this past autumn, I quite remember discussing the book series, The Chronicles of Narnia. Your mentioning that you had not yet read the series sent me on a quest to obtain all the books of the series for you to enjoy. It is unfortunate that the books we gave you are not new or in excellent condition. Let me explain why I felt it necessary to search out older editions of the book while bypassing newer editions which can be found in ANY bookstore. Being quite a fan of the series, I am somewhat perturbed by the contemporary presentation of newer editions.

First, all new editions of the book are presented in a chronological order but not in the order of which they were first published. Because of this change, much of the emotional impact of the stories and their surprises are diminished greatly. I would never ever allow someone to first read these books in the order of which they are currently produced; it's literary heresy. Even the recent film series begins with the first published book!

Therefore, allow me to suggest the following order:

1) The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
2) Prince Caspian
3) The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
4) The Silver Chair
5) The Magician’s Nephew
6) The Horse and His Boy[1]
7) The Last Battle

Second, while the new editions of the series are presented in an order which greatly diminish the books impact, this does not necessarily require the possession of older editions. If this problem were the newer editions only fault, one could buy the newer editions and tell their niece the best order to read the books in.

However, an incorrect order is not the only problem. C.S. Lewis himself made several changes to the texts of the original British edition while reading the proofs for the American. The changes are noticeable in chapters 1, 6, and 13 of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and chapter 12 of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. It is unfortunate but true that when HarperCollins took over publication of the series in 1994, they made the unusual decision to ignore the changes that Lewis had made and use the original British edition for all subsequent English editions worldwide.

These changes might seem somewhat slight but for the purist they soil the intended work by altering names and places from Lewis’ final conception. Because of these changes in the recent editions, it is impossible for anyone who really loves the books to be completely satisfied with anything other than the intended texts. And, unfortunately, this means that most copies that one acquires are going to be beat-up Collier-Macmillan paperback editions from the 1970s.

Let me assure you that you are not the only one who must suffer with 35 year old paperback editions. I myself spent a good long year searching second hand bookstores in order to obtain a complete set of the pre-1994 American editions. Therefore, while I would never be satisfied simply owning an incomplete set of my favorite book series, I could never allow my niece to be given such an incomplete set. Therefore, please accept my explanation for the quality of these books. I want only the best for my niece and these editions are the best.

These books have been an experience of great joy for me and my imagination since I was in second grade. To this day, I continue to read them at bed time and am frequently amazed that they still shine with undullable insight into what it means to be a follower of Christ and what it means to experience our Faith.

One of the great joys of aging is the experience of reliving our life's greatest joys at seeing younger men and women experience those same joys for the first time. I certainly hope these books bring you as much joy as they have brought me.

Your affectionate uncle,

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[1] While I realize that The Horse and His Boy was the fifth published book of the series and in no edition appears as sixth, I personally find this position to be more satisfactory in that it sets up the Calormenes for their substantial role in The Last Battle and that it gives more adequate breathing room between the creation of Narnia in The Magician’s Nephew and the events of the final book. But I am hardly dogmatic about this particular preference.