They Asked for a Paper: Papers and Addresses.

LEWIS, C.S.

Item Number: 132194

London: Geoffrey Bles, 1962.

First edition of the last book published during Lewis’ lifetime. Octavo, original cloth. From the library of Oliver Tomkins with his ownership signature. Oliver Stratford Tomkins was an Anglican Bishop of Bristol in the third quarter of the 20th century. He was appointed to the episcopate in 1959 as the Bishop of Bristol and consecrated a bishop on 6 January 1959, by Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury, at Westminster Abbey; a post he held for 16 years until his retirement on 1 October 1975. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Michael Harvey.

One of the most important essays that appears in They Asked for a Paper is Lewis's inaugural address at the University of Cambridge, "De Descriptione Temporum,"or "On a Description of the Times." In the lecture he argued that the most important historical date was not the division between medieval times and the Renaissance but 1830 which was what he termed the beginning of the Age of Enlightenment.