Those are some great choices! I’ve always felt there’s a serious lack of Narnia merchandise.

One item I’ve wanted to track down is the super-limited edition of Fox’s The Voyage of the Dawn Treader that came with a Reepicheep plush toy. I can’t imagine Reep being too thrilled about being turned into a plush, but I have to admit—the packaging looks pretty nice. I wonder if this would’ve convinced @GP to buy a copy! 😉

I'm still hoping we'll one day see an official Narnia Lego set (or two, or three, or more...)!!  

There is something else that I had mentioned before in another discussion.  I wish there was a large book of Pauline Baynes’ complete illustrations of Narnia. Come to think of it, there are very few books about Pauline Baynes and her artwork.  I wish there were more, e.g. a biography of her life written for both adults and children.  A new calendar featuring her pictures would also be nice. There was one more than thirty years ago, but unfortunately now it is very rare.

It would be nice if there were lighted glass vases with Narnia artwork on them. They would be similar to those made by Stony Creek with miniature Christmas lights inside. I have several of birds, which I turn on every night, but it would be nice if some were made with illustrations of Narnia.

Here is a link showing the 1993 calendar of Pauline Baynes’ artwork: 

https://www.paulinebaynes.com/?what=artifacts&image_id=497&cat=69

Posted by: @narnian78

There is something else that I had mentioned before in another discussion.  I wish there was a large book of Pauline Baynes’ complete illustrations of Narnia.

Well, one can get a one-volume edition of all seven Chronicles in the same book, with all her illustrations, but I know what you mean — just the illustrations without the stories! Which would be nice in many ways, especially with a bit of commentary on her life and artistic process and inspirations and so on.

Would you prefer a book like that to have the illustrations in black and white, as she originally drew them, or coloured, as they are in the 50th anniversary editions of the books? I believe Baynes herself did the colouring at the request of the publishers, which is nicer than it being done by some later artist who would have no idea what the original illustrator might have intended for the colours. I like both versions and really can't decide which I'd rather have. 

Come to think of it, there are very few books about Pauline Baynes and her artwork.  I wish there were more, e.g. a biography of her life written for both adults and children.  

There's Painting Wonder by Katie Wray Schon, which is mentioned on the site you linked to with the 1993 calendar. I know we had a discussion on it somewhere else in the forums recently. It looks interesting, but it's a pity it doesn't feature Baynes's own artwork (perhaps there are just a few glimpses of it — I haven't seen the actual book), and Schon doesn't seem to be quite as talented an artist herself, going by the cover illustration. (Which is nice in its own way, but it's not nearly as beautiful and intricate as a typical Pauline Baynes illustration!)

It would be nice if there were lighted glass vases with Narnia artwork on them. They would be similar to those made by Stony Creek with miniature Christmas lights inside. I have several of birds, which I turn on every night, but it would be nice if some were made with illustrations of Narnia.

I haven't seen lighted glass vases like you describe, but if you go on Etsy, there's somebody here in the UK who's making "Handcrafted Narnia Shadow Boxes" — wooden dioramas that are backlit with an LED light, so when you switch them on, there's a 3D scene in silhouette against the lit background. There are several of them, with scenes like Mr Tumnus in the woods, Aslan standing on a rock, the White Witch in her sleigh, and one that's a wardrobe that opens to show the lamppost in a winter landscape. 

Not sure what the postage for outside the UK would be, but have a search for them online if you're interested — I'm not sure what the rules are here about posting links to commercial retailers. (And I hasten to add I have absolutely no idea who the artist is and I am not being paid a commission!  But it's my birthday next month and I'm wondering if I might splurge on one of these for myself...)

EDIT: I bought the wardrobe one.  

@courtenay 

I think now I prefer Pauline Baynes’ color illustrations, and knowing that she colorized them herself makes them authentic. It is unfortunate that the book Painting Wonder doesn’t apparently have mostly Baynes’ own artwork. 

I remember seeing shadow boxes and dioramas elsewhere on the Internet, and some of them look pretty nice. I don’t know if they were approved of by the C. S. Lewis estate or anyone connected with Lewis’s family. They still might be good artwork, but I am not sure if I would actually order them or if it could be done securely. My local bank discouraged me from ordering things overseas.  When I did it a couple of times a few years ago someone tried to get into my account. The “fraud alert” comes up on my bank account. So in recent years I have avoided purchasing things that way unless the company has a shipping location within the U. S. 

I really like it when people decorate their rooms with Narnia memorabilia for their children. That would be the best gift to a child— having a Narnia themed bedroom full of artifacts related to the books. I kind of wish that I had something like that as a child. At that time the Narnia books were only about ten or fifteen years old, and they were in most school libraries. But there wasn’t much memorabilia besides the books themselves. 

Posted by: @narnian78

I remember seeing shadow boxes and dioramas elsewhere on the Internet, and some of them look pretty nice. I don’t know if they were approved of by the C. S. Lewis estate or anyone connected with Lewis’s family.

I don't think fan art items legally need to be approved by the Lewis estate or the publishers or film producers etc. as long as they're not reproducing actual artwork or logos or other copyright material from the books or screen adaptations themselves. The shadow boxes I was looking at earlier seem to be all original art by the person who makes them and they're not stamped with a Narnia logo or the names of any of the characters, so I don't think there are any concerns about copyright breaches. You can't copyright an idea or general concept, after all — anyone can create their own original artwork of a lamppost in a snowy wood, or an ice queen in a sleigh, or a lion watching over a fantasy landscape, or a warrior mouse, or a ship with a dragon-head prow... just so long as it's not a reproduction of somebody else's copyright work and it's not claiming to be official "Narnia" merchandise! 

As for the concerns about bank fraud, I completely understand and don't blame you for avoiding international transactions. I don't order many things from other countries either, unless I'm very sure of who the seller is and that the transaction is secure. 

I really like it when people decorate their rooms with Narnia memorabilia for their children. That would be the best gift to a child— having a Narnia themed bedroom full of artifacts related to the books.

Yes, provided the child was a fan of Narnia!  

I kind of wish that I had something like that as a child. At that time the Narnia books were only about ten or fifteen years old, and they were in most school libraries. But there wasn’t much memorabilia besides the books themselves. 

I wish I'd had something like that too — I always thought my childhood bedroom was too boring! (I will confess I was jealous of my older sister for having a Mr Men lampshade — popular British picture book series — when I only had a very 1970s macrame one. ) I was a big Narnia fan from an early age, but there wasn't that much official Narnia memorabilia then either (late 1980s), not even from the BBC TV series, or not as far as I saw. As an adult, now that I have my own home, I do often collect things that have a "Narnia" theme or feel. Definitely lots of lions at my place!  

Posted by: @courtenay

Posted by: @narnian78

I remember seeing shadow boxes and dioramas elsewhere on the Internet, and some of them look pretty nice. I don’t know if they were approved of by the C. S. Lewis estate or anyone connected with Lewis’s family.

I don't think fan art items legally need to be approved by the Lewis estate or the publishers or film producers etc. as long as they're not reproducing actual artwork or logos or other copyright material from the books or screen adaptations themselves. The shadow boxes I was looking at earlier seem to be all original art by the person who makes them and they're not stamped with a Narnia logo or the names of any of the characters, so I don't think there are any concerns about copyright breaches. You can't copyright an idea or general concept, after all — anyone can create their own original artwork of a lamppost in a snowy wood, or an ice queen in a sleigh, or a lion watching over a fantasy landscape, or a warrior mouse, or a ship with a dragon-head prow... just so long as it's not a reproduction of somebody else's copyright work and it's not claiming to be official "Narnia" merchandise! 

Fan art is only okay if it's for the artist's own use (or for a gift?). It's when it becomes commercial or is a contract item done for a buyer, that the Estate would be interested. If a stage show wants to sell merchandise with Narnian pictures, etc, they would have to get official permission. 

Were there any books ever written about the BBC Narnia series?  I don’t think it had the coverage given to the Walden films, but the old BBC series did have some fans so I wondered if there was some of that kind of memorabilia.  Was there even a set of the Narnia books with pictures from the BBC production or a book about how the series was made?   I guess now so many years later it is unlikely that such a book would be printed since the series didn’t make a lot of money.  I was even surprised that a DVD set was released, although I am glad that it was available years later. 

There were the World of Narnia picture books available in the 90s that featured illustrations I assume were inspired by the BBC production. I've never dug into how tied together the releases were, but I recently discovered there were also paper dolls from around that time.

Posted by: @narnian78

Were there any books ever written about the BBC Narnia series?... Was there even a set of the Narnia books with pictures from the BBC production or a book about how the series was made? 

I vaguely remember seeing a friends book which contained a couple of the stories - I think PC & VDT from memory (which would make sense as I think about it).  The book had pictures from the BBC production of PC & VDT included.  I've never seen this edition since then, so I'd imagine it would be pretty rare.  I just tried looking it up on ebay and just a general search and I couldn't find it sadly...

Here's my replica of the Dawn Treader! I always thought it was such a shame we didn't get an official replica but glad other places filled the void. 

@impending-doom Oh WOW!!!   I was just about to check what the price is (and, er, the shipping), but unfortunately the website says it's no longer available. Well done you for getting it when you could! 

@impending-doom 

I kind of wish that a smaller replica of the Dawn Treader like this were available. It has been done with the die cast miniatures of the Star Trek ships.  They are a little expensive but still reasonably priced. But as with miniatures of the wardrobe the Narnia memorabilia is becoming difficult to find (much more difficult than Star Trek) even as ornaments for the Christmas tree. I am glad you were able to find such a fine replica of the ship.