Acknowledgments

I gratefully acknowledge the help and kindness of the following people:

The many readers of Planet Narnia and viewers of The Narnia Code documentary who suggested a book of this sort; in particular, Robin Parry of Paternoster Press, who e-mailed me out of the blue with an unsolicited commission—an author’s dream.

Kim Miller, Sarah Atkinson, and Jonathan Schindler at Tyndale for their excellent editorial work.

Cynthia Read of Oxford University Press for permission to abridge and refashion Planet Narnia as The Narnia Code.

Walter Hooper for his endless encouragements and especially for pointing out the Saturn reference in the one surviving Narnia typescript.

Bernard O’Donoghue of Wadham College, Oxford, for showing me Lewis’s astrological marginalia in his complete edition of Chaucer.

The late Pauline Baynes for responding to my inquiries about her Narnia illustrations.

The staff of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and the Wade Center, Wheaton College, Illinois, for their superb archival assistance.

Christopher Holmwood and Bishop Simon Barrington-Ward for their parts in the discovery that led to this book.

Members of the Oxford Lewis Society, especially the president, David Baird, for spurring this project toward fruition.

Fr. Andrew Cuneo, the first person to gain an Oxford doctorate on Lewis, for his scholarly advice and personal support.

Davey Talbot of Davey’s Daily Poetry for illuminating Lewis’s Mercurial wordplay.

Norman Stone of 1A Productions for directing The Narnia Code documentary.

The C. S. Lewis Foundation, owners of The Kilns, for their continual hospitality.

William Clayton of williamclayton.com for the author photo.

Mark Dodwell of mkdynamic for designing www.narniacode.com.

Greg Anderson, Sarah Arthur, Anne Atkins, David Beckmann, Steve Beebe, Paul Bootes, Justin Brierley, David Brooks, Keith Carlson, David Crouse, Salim Firth, Mike Gilbart-Smith, Malcolm Guite, Charles Hart, Louis Hemmings, Alan Jacobs, Karl Johnson, Paul Kerry, Kalman Kingsley, Roger Laing, Chip Lind, Theodore Roosevelt Malloch, Doug Mantha, Wayne Martindale, Eric Metaxas, Kenneth Myers, Alan Noake, Jamie Parker, James Patrick, Elizabeth Peters, J. A. C. Redford, Mike Reeves, Mark Rigg, Doug Robinson, Jerry Root, Phil Ryken, John Seel, Mark Sommer, Charlie Starr, Dick Staub, William Tate, David Theroux, Tom Wright, John Yates III—all of whom, in various memorable ways, smoothed the path from Planet Narnia to The Narnia Code.

And finally, Chris Cuneo, who set up a telescope in the backyard of his house in Jupiter, Florida, and said, “You’ve never looked through a ’scope? Look through that!” I did so and saw Jupiter, 365 million miles away.

Michael Ward

St. Peter’s College, Oxford

Feast of St. Peter, 2010