Cataloguing the Past: Mist That History Missed?

Ian Blakemoore is a bookdealer in Wigton, Cambria, who sells Lewis related books. His catalog has a preface by Aidan Mackey, a G. K. Chesterton specialist. Two items in the catalog are of special interest to Lewis Legacy readers.

First, there is a brief article by Lesley Walmsley, who says she became an editor at William Collins publishers in 1976 and edited several C. S. Lewis books including Boxen and The Dark Tower. (William Griffin says he edited Dark Tower.) Walmsley says “although the author [C.S. Lewis] was not here to help, he was ably represented by two trustees of the Lewis Estate, Walter Hooper and Elizabeth Stevens, to whom I shall always be indebted and for whom I shall always carry a strong respect and affection. They knew everything, had phenomenal memories, and were unstinting in their time and help.” (It seems that Walmsley’s own memory is less than phenomenal: Elizabeth Stevens is not on record as a trustee of the Lewis estate.)

Blakemoore offers a copy of The C. S. Lewis Hoax, which he describes as “A book which has upset many people.” He then reprints a comment on Hoax from Aidan Mackey: “A book by a disturbed person whose accusations have been investigated and demolished by the highest independent authorities in Britain and the United States. My impression is that K.L. was a genuine and valuable scholar, but became afflicated by physical illness and other problems which distorted her judgement enormously. I engaged her in dispute over one single issue, but it was like taking a sword to a mist.”

In 1993 Mackey stated in print “I have the pleasure, the fun, and the honour to know Walter Hooper fairly well.” He has consistently declined to read any books or articles by “K. L.,” and he has not responded to her friendly overtures.