10. [MacDONALD, George] [LEWIS, C.S.]A Collection of Papers from the Archive of PublisherVictor Gollancz, Relating to the Publication of theGollancz Edition of Phantastes and LilithV.p.: N.p., V.d.A small quantity of typed and holograph correspondence, and associatedmaterials, between and concerning C.S. Lewis, his publisher, and interestedparties, relating to the publication of Phantastes and Lilith, various sizesand dates, the whole housed in a manila folder. Some edgewear to larger(outsize) items, but a well preserved collection.PAPERS AND CORRESPONDENCE FROM THE ARCHIVE OFVICTOR GOLLANCZ RELATING TO THE PUBLICATION OFGEORGE MacDONALD’S PHANTASTES AND LILITH, WITH ANINTRODUCTION BY C.S. LEWIS, INCLUDING AN ALS FROMLEWIS TO GOLLANCZ DISCUSSING THE BOOK’S TITLE.The Gollancz edition of Phantastes and Lilith was published in the UK in1962, and carried an introduction by C.S. Lewis. The two novels werefirst published in 1858 and 1895 respectively, and had been previouslypublished together in New York by Noonday Press in 1954, under thetitle The Visionary Novels of George MacDonald. That edition had carriedan introduction by W.H. Auden. Correspondence in the file showsthat Gollancz’s original intention was to use both Auden’s introductionand the Noonday edition’s modification of the text. Hilary Rubenstein(Victor Gollancz’s nephew) soon tired of what he saw as Noonday’sunreasonable demands, and in a letter dated 12 March 1962 cut all tieswith them in no uncertain terms, writing: ....there is no reason, in thesecircumstances, why we should make use of your edition at all. We canvery easily obtain another introduction for our edition and simply set thebooks ourselves from the original editions. In view of your letter, this iswhat we now plan to do.’On 3 April Rubenstein wrote to C.S. Lewis: ‘I plan to publish duringthe Autumn, in one volume, Phantastes and Lilith. I should very muchlike to reprint, as a preface, part of the preface you wrote for the BlesAnthology [George MacDonald: An Anthology (London: Geoffrey Bles,1946)]. , ....Could you, I wonder, suggest a title? Farrar, Straus of NewYork [of which Noonday was a subsidiary] published edited versions ofthe two novels some time ago, calling them “The Visionary Novels ofGeorge MacDonald”. I don’t much like “visionary”, and I am particularlyanxious, anyhow, not to use their title. But I can’t for the life of me thinkof an attractive alternative.’ In an undated ALS present in the file, Lewisreplies: ‘As for the title I shd. have thought the plain one Phantastes andLilith was the best. No doubt people will misunderstand it and take P. andL. for the title of a single work, but I don’t see any commercial, literary orethical objection to their doing so! I made a similar mistake in boyhoodabout the old Heinemann volume Siegfried and the Twilight of the Gods,but neither Heinemann nor I nor Wagner was any the worse for it.’On October 17 Alfred Knopf writes to Gollancz in a TLS: ‘...you saidat that pleasant lunch at the Savoy that you were reissung in a singlevolume ‘Lilith’ and ‘Phantastes’ by George Macdonald, and suggestedthat we do likewise. ... Would you be good enough to let me know justwhat your plans are...?’ On the reverse of the letter Gollancz has writtenhis reply in red ink, which was typed up on the 22nd: ‘I am sending youby separate post our edition of the MacDonald novels, which we arepublishing in January.’ (The finished book, although not published untilJanuary 1963, carries a publication date of 1962.) In a reply dated 21November, Knopf passes.A remarkable collection of material, telling in great detail and at firsthand the story of the publication of a book linking Lewis to one of hismost important literary influences. As Lewis notes in his preface: ‘I havenever concealed the fact that I regarded [MacDonald] as my master;indeed, I fancy I have never written a book in which I did not quote fromhim.’£3,500 (plus 20% VAT to EU purchasers)On 13 April Bles and Gollancz agreed a fee of six guineas for the use ofLewis’s (abridged) preface, payable on publication.12
13