Author Geek Out

My visit to the Wade Center with my writing friends!

While I was at the catholic Writers Guild conference in Chicago a month ago, a few of us went on a little field trip to the Wade Center, which is housed on Wheaton’s college campus. The Wade Center contains a huge collection of books from the personal libraries of seven authors: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Dorothy L. Sayers, George MacDonald, G.K. Chesterton, Owen Barfield, and Charles Williams.

Margaret, Allison, Nancy, and me outside the Wade Center

There were many displays of artifacts that belonged to the authors:

C.S. Lewis’s pen and pipe

You can see where the end of Tolkien’s pen is melted because he used it to tamp his pipe tobacco down

For my local book club friends who read Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers last year: here is her address book and a pair of her glasses!

The family bookplate used in George MacDonald’s personal books

This is the actual wardrobe made by C.S. Lewis’s grandfather, the one he and his brother would play inside and that inspired The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe! One of the coats inside belonged to his brother.

And the writing desks of both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien!

Then we got to go into the reading room and touch and read actual books that belonged to these authors!! My highlights: getting to look through a first edition of The Princess and the Goblin that George MacDonald gave to his daughter as a Christmas gift, complete with his writing in the front inside cover (which we weren’t allowed to photograph), and getting to see C.S. Lewis’s copy of Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton!

Channing would be flipping out!! This is the book I have him reference in Firetender when he’s wearing the shoes with nails stuck through the soles.

Channing also reads both Orthodoxy and Mere Christianity, so to have Lewis’s copy of Orthodoxy in my hands was like going back to where these connections began, connections Channing made in Firetender that Dallas didn’t understand for a long time. A very cool moment!

C.S. Lewis’s copy of At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald!

By dropping references to Mere Christianity, Orthodoxy, and The Princess and the Goblin in Firetender, I was hoping to give these great books a little shoutout. Every time I see an old book referenced that I recognize within another work of literature, I always get excited to see how they are connected!

Are you joining in for the Chalice Series book club? Starting in July, we will be reading through all three Chalice Series books, and I would love to have you join me and read along and jump into our monthly video call discussions in July and August (for Firetender), September (for Enkindle in Me), and October (for The Fire of Your Love).

Until next time,

Erin