Sitting on Tolkien's Desk

We took a family field trip on Saturday to the Wade Center at Wheaton College. Look at that blue sky! Look at it!

The Wade Center is home to a tiny yet incredible display of the artifacts of some very cool authors, like C. S. Lewis. That's his wardrobe. That's Edmund standing in front of it. You may recall that we just listened to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe on audio. We also just watched the Disney movie version.

On the way to the Wade Center, Edmund peppered us with endless questions about the Navy SEALS, of which the Chef and I know next to nothing. Not sure what this had to do with our field trip. But I cannot disassociate C.S. Lewis and Navy SEALS now.

Without any signs telling us not to touch the wardrobe...we touched it. It's full of coats! We touched those too. This warning is on the inside of the wardrobe door.

C. S. Lewis's grandfather MADE that wardrobe. He adzed it himself. I don't know what that means, but it's very cool and I want the Chef to make me one. But I won't hold my breath.

This is C.S. Lewis's desk and chair. They have the chair tied to the desk, so we didn't sit there, but of course we looked in the drawers to see the ink and paint stains. You can see his pen, his tea mug, tea pot, and pewter mug, but you can't touch them. They are behind glass. They also have nearly 2,500 of the books of his personal library complete with his handwritten notes in the margins, which you can touch if you need to, in the Reading Room.

In an alternate universe, I am working on a fantasy novel with Lewis and Tolkien as the main characters and I spend most of my time in the Wade Center Reading Room doing research. That's re-SEARCH, the British pronunciation, not RE-search. And I get to use Lewis's tea mug. And I get to wear Dorothy Sayers' eyeglasses, which are also on display. Have you read Dorothy Sayers? I have a major crush on Lord Peter Wimsey. You should read all about him. Start with Whose Body.

That's the High King Peter, who, after toting his 22 lb. baby sister around, decided to give it a rest right on J.R.R. Tolkien's desk. That's my baby on Tolkien's desk.

That's Susan fixing her French braid, behind him. She's very tall, and she's very proud of the fact that she can now French braid her own hair, cause the Lord gave me many gifts, but French braiding was not among them.

Peter pointed out that it's not a very big desk. It is the desk that Tolkien wrote, typed, and illustrated The Hobbit on though. He said so himself in a hand-written letter that's under the glass, under my baby's bum.

Every corner has a lovely display like this one. You can also see some of the props from the Disney movies The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and Prince Caspian, including Nik-a-brik's sword, sheath, and dagger, which Edmund really liked, but couldn't touch.

When The Chef signed our names in the guest book, he noticed that we were two names below this guy.
He's Mark Coleridge, Archbishop of Canberra, Australia. He probably left when he saw us come in.

Did you know that Lewis's stepson, Douglas Gresham (son of Joy Gresham, and featured in the Lewis biographical movie, Shadowlands) has a cameo in each of the Disney movies? And that his kids' have cameos in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader? Very cool.


There are other authors represented in the Wade Center, including George Macdonald, who wrote The Princess and Curdie. Never read it, must change that. Also, Narnia and Hobbit illustrator, Pauline Baynes has a nice display as well.


That painting is not by Pauline Baynes. I followed all of the posted rules and did not use flash photography or take pictures of copyrighted material. If there was a rule about touching things or sitting on things, I didn't see it posted, and I'm sorry.