Lewis (C.S., writer, 1898-1963) Perelandra, Autograph Letter signed from the author to C.L.M Hartley, 2pp., thanking the recipient for his review and discussing the Old Solar language, corner- tipped onto pastedown, July 5th 1945, and with Typed Note signed to Hartley with additional three-line autograph inscription from Lewis tipped on front free endpaper, extensive notes on prelims and final few pages, as well as pencil annotations throughout text in Hartley's hand, various newspaper cuttings relating to contemporary astronomy tipped onto endpapers, title, and paper-clipped onto p.21, 1943; The Problem of Pain, newspaper and photograph portrait of Lewis on endpapers, extensive notes and pencil annotations in Hartley's hand, 1942, reprints, gift inscriptions on front free endpaper to Hartley in another hand, light toning on endpapers, original cloth, rubbed and discoloured, 8vo (2)*** An illuminating letter from Lewis addressed to C. L. M. Hartley, with references to Old Solar, his created language akin to Tolkien's Elvish, and to fellow Inkling Charles Williams. The novels were gifted to C. L. M. Hartley of 51 Bullingdon Road, Oxford, who in turn published a review of the work in The Australian Church Quarterly and seemingly sent this to Lewis for consideration. The letter from Lewis thanks Hartley for his favourable review, and goes on to acknowledge that Hartley is "the only or one of the two only writes who regard the dialogue on the mountain as the centre of the whole book". Moreover, Lewis makes a reference to Old Solar, a language he created for the inhabitants of the Field of Arbol to speak, as featured in The Space Trilogy (of which Perelandra is the second work in the series). Unlike Tolkien's invented Elvish languages for The Lord of the Rings, little is known about Old Solar's grammar. In a rare mention, the letter confirms the declensions, "Eldil is the singular; eldila the plural. The plural of oyarsa (which you wouldn't know) is oyéresa." He goes on to discuss the protagonist, "I don't think that Weston was a hypersomatic being..." and refers to Charles Williams, a fellow Inkling, mentioning his recent death and recommending his works Place of the Lion, Descent into Hell and All Hallows Eve. The books are marked up with annotations and notes which were presumably used for Hartley's reviews, and the additional contemporary newspaper clippings with headlines such as "Clusters of Star Galaxies Found by Astronomers" and "100 Space Travel Experts Confer" make this duo of works an all together unique insight into Lewis's science-fiction turn of writing.