The Original Book Covers
Posted: Oct 16, 2019 10:22 am
I think it's interesting to look at the covers for the first copies of the books. These are the images which were the introductions to the stories for all the very first readers of them.
https://www.eq5.net/lewis/bkcovers.html
The cover for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe shows Susan and Lucy's ride on Aslan's back. I feel like it's a bad idea to show the climax of a book as the introduction to it. (Especially since it arguably reveals that Aslan's death isn't permanent.) But it's definitely a cool image and I can see why they'd put it on the cover.
The cover for Prince Caspian shows Lucy dancing with Bacchus, the maenads and a dryad. Again with giving away the climax of the book! But this is probably the most magical scene in the story so I can understand what they why they chose it.
The cover for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader shows the Dawn Treader. Not the most imaginative choice but it makes sense. Nothing wrong with it.
The cover for the Silver Chair shows the silver chair surrounded by gnomes. Again pretty obvious but it works.
The cover for The Horse and his Boy shows the horse but not the boy. This is the most generic of the covers. I feel like they could have found something more interesting if they'd tried.
The cover for The Magician's Nephew shows Digory and Polly peeking into the study. This one is definitely my favorite. It's really intriguing and mysterious but because it comes from the beginning of the story, it doesn't give anything away.
The cover for The Last Battle shows Lucy and Tumnus looking out over the Real Narnia. It's a very nice image but I'm really not sure it was the best choice for the cover. The scene it depicts is not just from the climax but the very end! To be fair, it's hard to pick a good representative image for The Last Battle since the first two thirds and the last third are so different.
It's interesting that these covers describe the books specifically as a story for children. I guess since C. S. Lewis' main claim to fame when the Narnia books were published was being an author for adults, they felt like the had to put that on the covers so people wouldn't be confused.
https://www.eq5.net/lewis/bkcovers.html
The cover for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe shows Susan and Lucy's ride on Aslan's back. I feel like it's a bad idea to show the climax of a book as the introduction to it. (Especially since it arguably reveals that Aslan's death isn't permanent.) But it's definitely a cool image and I can see why they'd put it on the cover.
The cover for Prince Caspian shows Lucy dancing with Bacchus, the maenads and a dryad. Again with giving away the climax of the book! But this is probably the most magical scene in the story so I can understand what they why they chose it.
The cover for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader shows the Dawn Treader. Not the most imaginative choice but it makes sense. Nothing wrong with it.
The cover for the Silver Chair shows the silver chair surrounded by gnomes. Again pretty obvious but it works.
The cover for The Horse and his Boy shows the horse but not the boy. This is the most generic of the covers. I feel like they could have found something more interesting if they'd tried.
The cover for The Magician's Nephew shows Digory and Polly peeking into the study. This one is definitely my favorite. It's really intriguing and mysterious but because it comes from the beginning of the story, it doesn't give anything away.
The cover for The Last Battle shows Lucy and Tumnus looking out over the Real Narnia. It's a very nice image but I'm really not sure it was the best choice for the cover. The scene it depicts is not just from the climax but the very end! To be fair, it's hard to pick a good representative image for The Last Battle since the first two thirds and the last third are so different.
It's interesting that these covers describe the books specifically as a story for children. I guess since C. S. Lewis' main claim to fame when the Narnia books were published was being an author for adults, they felt like the had to put that on the covers so people wouldn't be confused.