Memorable Discovery in a Used Book Store

Imagine the surprise of Perry Bramlett when he picked up a first edition copy of Poems by C. S. Lewis (1964) in a used book store and found that it was autographed by Walter Hooper. This was Hooper’s very first publication, his first foray into C. S. Lewis studies, and his first revelation of alternative versions of works that C. S. Lewis had published in his lifetime. For example, this was the first appearance of “What the Bird Said Early in the Year,” the Waltered poem carved on the C. S. Lewis memorial stone dedicated in Oxford at Addison’s Walk on 13 May 1998.

The appearance of Walter Hooper’s handwriting in this book is significant in light of the fact that in a 27 June 1979 letter to Steve Schofield he claimed that his handwriting has always looked like C. S. Lewis’s. According to Hooper, Lewis was the first to notice the resemblance, and because of it Lewis dictated letters to Hooper and had Hooper sign for him. This handwriting looks nothing like Lewis’s.

THE LEWIS LEGACY, Lindentree Press, 1344 E. Mayfair Avenue, Orange, California 92867. Editor Kathryn Lindskoog. Telephone and Fax: 714-532 5376. E-mail: lindskoog@compuserve.com Listed in Newsletters in Print from Gale Research Inc. ISSN 084-2586. $10 annual donation toward cost suggested. Back issues available, $10 for each year requested.