The Magician's Nephew not as powerful a sorcerer as she is (or was). This recalls the style of Edith Nesbit's children's books. Lewis was fond of these books, which he read in childhood, a number were set in the same period and "The Magician's Nephew" has some apparent references or homages to them. "The Magician's Nephew" was originally published as the sixth book in the Narnia Chronicles. Most reprintings of the novels until the 1980s also reflected the order of original publication. In 1980 HarperCollins published the series ordered by the chronology of the events in the novels. This meant "The Magician's Nephew"
Magician (fantasy) Sorcerers in "Conan the Barbarian" often gained powers from such books, which are demarcated by their strange bindings. In worlds where magic is not an innate trait, the scarcity of these strange books may be a facet of the story; in Poul Anderson's "A Midsummer Tempest", Prince Rupert seeks out the books of the magician Prospero to learn magic. The same occurs in the "Dungeons and Dragons"-based novel series "Dragonlance Chronicles", wherein Raistlin Majere seeks out the books of the sorcerer Fistandantilus. Some magicians, even after training, continue their education by learning more spells, inventing new ones (and new magical