Lewis, C.S.

[The Space Trilogy] Out of the Silent Planet; Perelandra; That Hideous Strength

New York: Macmillan, 1943; 1944; 1946. First American Editions, first printings. Publisher's cloth, in illustrated dust jackets ($2.00; $2.00; $3.00). 174; [2, blank]; 238; 459 pp. 8.25" x 5.5" Mottling v. 1 boards, else near fine, others fine. All volumes in very good plus dust jackets with mild rubbing and touches of edge wear and a few shallow chips, not affecting illustrations or text, strip of sunning front joint v. 3 with two two-inch closed tears upper and lower front flap crease, in mylar covers. Item #244641

IT ALL BEGAN WITH A TOSS

It may have been the result of a coin. It may have been the result of a late-into-the-night discussion on the nature of science fiction and myth. Or it may have been, to some extent, only in their minds. But in 1936, during a conversation between two participants in one of literature’s most consequential friendships, an idea was “tossed up”: each would write an “excursionary ‘Thriller’”––one through space, the other through time––each “discovering Myth.” So whether by chance or suitability, C. S. Lewis ventured into writing a thriller of space-travel––and J. R. R. Tolkien of time-travel. Tolkien’s time-travel project would remain unfinished. But Lewis, quick to the pen, began what became his Space Trilogy.

Lewis’s trilogy follows philologist Elwin Ransom and moves from interplanetary adventure (Out of the Silent Planet) to Edenic re-imagination (Perelandra) to social, political, and moral thriller (That Hideous Strength). Even though it was received with mixed reviews from critical and popular voices––as well as a mixed reception among his friends (Tolkien was notably dissatisfied with That Hideous Strength, and in particular Charles Williams’s influence on the novel)––the trilogy remains one of the most distinctive marriages of science fiction, myth, and Christian cosmology of the mid-twentieth century.

Presented here is a truly exemplary set of the first American editions in original unclipped dust jackets.


[Larsen, Kristine (2025) "Wibbly-Wobbly Timey-Wimey Inklings: Tolkien and Lewis’s Relative Dimensions in Space-Time," Journal of Tolkien Research: Vol. 23: Iss. 2, Article 11.; Humphrey, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien].

Price: $8,500.00