I received an email from a reader who is concerned about variations between published texts of a couple of Narnia chronicles. He's looking at HarperCollins Kindle Editions and Macmillan paperback printings. I'll reproduce the variants below, putting deviations in bold. Meanwhile, do you know anything about the textual history of this book? Did CSL publish variant versions? Were there differences between the British and American first editions? Is there manuscript evidence to suggest variant readings? Thanks for any info you can share!
Magician's Nephew, Kindle:
He bowed his great head rather sadly, and breathed into the Magician’s terrified face. “Sleep,” he said. “Sleep and be separated for some few hours from all the torments you have devised for yourself.”
Magician's Nephew, Paperback:
He bowed his great head rather sadly, and breathed into the Magician’s terrified face.“Sleep and be separated for some few hours from all the torments you have desired for yourself.”
Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Kindle:
In a few moments the darkness turned into a grayness ahead, and then, almost before they dared to begin hoping, they had shot out into the sunlight and were in the warm, blue world again. And all at once everybody realized that there was nothing to be afraid of and never had been. They blinked their eyes and looked about them. The brightness of the ship herself astonished them: they had half expected to find that the darkness would cling to the white and the green and the gold in the form of some grime or scum. And then first one, and then another, began laughing. “I reckon we’ve made pretty good fools of ourselves,” said Rynelf. Lucy lost no time in coming down to the deck…
Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Paperback:
In a few moments the darkness turned into a greyness ahead, and then, almost before they dared to begin hoping, they shot out into the sunlight and were in the warm blue world again. And just as there are moments when simply to lie in bed and see the daylight pouring through your window and to hear the cheerful voice of an early postman down below and to realize it was only a dream: it wasn't real, is so heavenly that it was very nearly worth having the joy of waking, so they all felt when they came out of the dark. The brightness of the ship astonished them: they had half expected to find that the darkness would cling to the white and the green and the gold in the form of some grime or scum. Lucy lost no time in coming down to the deck…