Books published by publisher John Lane, Bodley Head

Shipped from UK, please allow 10 to 21 business days for arrival. The Golden Age, hardcover, 19th Edition 1900. 232pp. +15pp.'The Invention of Fairyland' +[i] publisher's advertisments. Very good clean tight sound square, small discreet attractive bookplate featuring laurel diadem. Beautifully bound in bright gilt ruled half-morocco leather over gilt, brown and green marbled boards gently rubbed to corners and edges, 5 raised bands to spine with gilt title on leather label and gilt ruled and decorated compartments, leaves uncut deckle edge, top edge bright gilt. A lovely volume with great shelf presence and a great addition for reader and collector alike.

The "Space Trilogy" (also called the "Cosmic Trilogy" or "Ransom Trilogy") dealt with what Lewis saw as the de-humanizing trends in contemporary science fiction. The first book, Out of the Silent Planet, was apparently written following a conversation with his friend JRR Tolkien about these trends. Lewis agreed to write a "space travel" story and Tolkien a "time travel" one, but Tolkien never completed "The Lost Road", linking his Middle-earth to the modern world. Lewis's main character Elwin Ransom is based in part on Tolkien, a fact Tolkien alludes to in his letters. The second novel, Perelandra, depicts a new Garden of Eden on the planet Venus, a new Adam and Eve, and a new "serpent figure" to tempt them. The story can be seen as an account of what could have happened if the terrestrial Eve had resisted the serpent's temptation and avoided the Fall of Man.