First edition dustjacket
|
|
Author | C. S. Lewis |
---|---|
Illustrator | Pauline Baynes |
Cover artist | Pauline Baynes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Series | The Chronicles of Narnia |
Genre | Children's fantasy novel, Christian literature |
Publisher | Geoffrey Bles |
Publication date
|
15 September 1952 |
Media type | Print (hardcover) |
Pages | 223 pp (first edition) 52,038 words (US) |
ISBN | (Collins, 1998; full colour) |
OCLC | 2805288 |
LC Class | PZ8.L48 Vo |
Preceded by | Prince Caspian |
Followed by | The Silver Chair |
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a high fantasy novel for children by C. S. Lewis, published by Geoffrey Bles in 1952. It was the third published of seven novels in The Chronicles of Narnia (1950–1956) and Lewis had finished writing it in 1950, before the first book was out. It is volume five in recent editions, which are sequenced according to Narnia history. Like the others it was illustrated by Pauline Baynes and her work has been retained in many later editions. It is the only Narnia book that does not have a main villain.
Lewis dedicated the book to Geoffrey Corbett. He is the foster-son of Owen Barfield, the friend, teacher, adviser and trustee of Lewis.
The Voyage features a second return to the Narnia world, about three years later in Narnia and one year later in England, by Edmund and Lucy Pevensie, the younger two of the four English children featured in the first two books. Prince Caspian is now King Caspian X. He leads a sea voyage to the eastern end of the world, which the English siblings and their cousin Eustace Scrubb magically join soon after his ship Dawn Treader sets sail.
Macmillan US published an American edition within the calendar year with substantial revisions that were retained in the U.S. until 1994.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader has been adapted and filmed as four episodes of BBC television series in 1989 and as a feature film in 2010.
The two youngest Pevensie children, Lucy and Edmund, are staying with their odious cousin Eustace Scrubb while their older brother, Peter, is studying for an exam with Professor Kirke, and their older sister, Susan, is traveling through America with their parents. Edmund, Lucy, and Eustace are drawn into the Narnian world through a picture of a ship at sea. (The painting, hanging neglected in the guest bedroom in which Lucy was staying, had been an unwanted present to Eustace's parents.) The three children land in the ocean near the pictured vessel, the titular Dawn Treader, and are taken aboard.