What was C.S. Lewis’s first published book, released in 1919 under a pseudonym?

C.S. Lewis’s first published book, released in 1919 under a pseudonym, was Spirits in Bondage.

Lewis published the poetry collection as “Clive Hamilton,” a name formed from his first name and his mother’s maiden name. The book appeared while he was still a young man and reflects the influence of the First World War, including themes of suffering, doubt, nature, and religious uncertainty.

The volume is sometimes overlooked because Lewis later became best known for Christian apologetics, literary criticism, and the Chronicles of Narnia. It is also easy to confuse it with Dymer, another early poetic work that Lewis published in 1926 under the same pseudonym.

Spirits in Bondage predates Lewis’s best-known Christian writings by many years. Its publication shows that he began as a poet and that his early literary identity was separate from the famous initials “C.S. Lewis.”