To whom did C. S. Lewis dedicate The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe?

C. S. Lewis dedicated *The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe* to his goddaughter Lucy Barfield.

Barfield was the daughter of Owen Barfield, a close friend, adviser, and member of Lewis’s literary circle. Lewis wrote the story for her and addressed the dedication directly to “Lucy,” explaining that children grow older faster than books can be written and published. The dedication appeared when the novel was published in London on 16 October 1950.

Barfield also inspired the name of Lucy Pevensie, the first human character to enter Narnia. Lewis sent her the completed manuscript in 1949, before publication, making the dedication both a personal gift and a record of their relationship.

The dedication is sometimes confused with Lewis’s other personal connections. Pauline Baynes illustrated the book, but it was not dedicated to her; Joy Davidman became Lewis’s wife later and was not the dedicatee. Lewis also dedicated *The Voyage of the Dawn Treader* to Lucy’s brother Geoffrey Barfield.