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Creasy Spines

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Letter· 1940s

C.S. Lewis defines joy in a letter left in his own book

By the Editors · As reported by Mental Floss, 12 February 2020

FoundUnited Kingdom

Tucked inside The Problem of Pain by C. S. Lewis

A reader who had bought a secondhand copy of C.S. Lewis’s The Problem of Pain years earlier discovered a handwritten letter from Lewis folded inside. Dated August 1945 and addressed to a Mrs Ellis, it set out his idea of joy, an early version of the theme he later developed in his memoir Surprised by Joy. Dominic Winter Auctioneers in England sold it in 2014 for about $6,000.

This is our summary of a find reported in the press. For the full story, photographs and any updates, read the original report in Mental Floss.

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