LEWIS, C. S.

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The Screwtape Letters. First edition, in the dust jacket. Lewis's famous apologetic induced in its author "a sort of spiritual cramp... It almost smothered me before I was done" (cited in Zaleski, p. 296). He dedicated the book to Tolkien, who was uneasy about Lewis's humorous dissection of the great evil powers.Loosely inserted is a postcard from Reverend Alic Vidler (1899-1991), who edited Lewis's contributions to the periodical Theology from 1939 to 1941. Lewis disagreed greatly with Vidler and described himself as Vidler's "permanent opposition" (Letters II, p. 253). Nonetheless, Lewis praised and defended him in Letters to Malcolm (1964), outlining how Vidler's desire for a church "with less religion" had been misunderstood. Vidler is remembered as a master of "theological midwifery" for influencing a diverse range of Christian thinkers and as "one of the more picturesque priests in the Church of England" (obituary in Daily Telegraph).Vidler's postcard was sent to Reverend William Aitken Smellie (1904-1973), Perth, whose bookplate is on the front pastedown.

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