I don't know when it was first used in print, but I recall reading somewhere that Lewis either thought up the collective title "The Chronicles of Narnia" himself, or else approved of it when someone else suggested it. I forget exactly!

I'm almost certain the boxset I own is the first one ever produced — here's a photo of it from an online seller (my own is in slightly better condition, but I find it very difficult to post photos in this forum!), and you can see it uses the wording "The Complete Chronicles of Narnia" on the box. The books in my set are all 1973 reprints of the 1963 Puffin editions, the first paperback versions after the original 1950s hardcovers. This boxset may have been available earlier than 1973, though, as at least one online seller dates it as 1966 — there's no date on the box itself, so I assume that's the date of printing on the books inside it.

I don't know when the first single-volume edition of the Chronicles was produced, but I'm pretty sure it must have been more recent than the boxsets, because every single-volume version I've ever seen has the books in the now "official" chronological order (starting with MN). I don't know exactly when that renumbering happened, but my 1973 Puffin boxset has the books listed on the back in publication order (starting with LWW)! They're not numbered on the spines, though.

The first person to suggest it was fellow-writer and Inkling, Roger Lancelyn Green. Wikipedia says,

He was an Oxford academic who formed part of the Inklings literary discussion group along with C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. He had a positive influence on his friend, C.S. Lewis, by encouraging him to publish The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

You may have heard it mentioned by Doug Gresham if you have listened to the Focus on the Family Narnia Radio Dramas. In one of his introductions or endings he says this.

Posted by: @coracle

You may have heard it mentioned by Doug Gresham if you have listened to the Focus on the Family Narnia Radio Dramas. In one of his introductions or endings he says this.

No, it was definitely in a book — probably The Land of Narnia by Brian Sibley, which I've had since I was 7, as I remember reading that fact soon after I first read the books themselves! I do still have that book, but it's in my bedroom back in Australia, so unfortunately I can't just pop over to check it...  

@courtenay Of course I too have that book (since the 1990s).

And yes, there it is on page 30!

[I used this book as a source of information and answers, in my years on the Into The Wardrobe discussion forums. Any time there was a query on Narnia, I would search in 'Sibley'!]

A Search shows that FotF made their seven serials between 1999 and 2002, so 'Sibley' published that first.  

Posted by: @coracle

@courtenay Of course I too have that book (since the 1990s).

And yes, there it is on page 30!

 

So there it is in New Zealand and I didn't have to go all the way to Oz!  

(I probably should pick that book up next time I visit my family. I did bring back several books after my last trip, earlier this year, but suitcase space / maximum weight was limited and I mainly brought back Tolkien books that time! I also have Sibley's delightful activity book — I think it's called The Magical World of Narnia — which is full of Narnia-related games and puzzles and other fun things for young fans to do. Bought at the same time as the other one, at The Little Bookroom in Elizabeth Street, Melbourne (sadly now closed down). I was on a shopping trip with Mum, spotted those two books and refused to leave without them!!)

As for single-volume editions, the earliest one I remember ever seeing (yes, I do regularly check the children's section of bookshops to see if they've got Narnia*) is this one, which according to the seller's website was published in 1998. That's probably about right, since I don't remember there being a one-volume version of the Chronicles when I first became hooked on them (late '80s - early '90s). I can't see any editions online that are dated earlier than that, so I would guess that was the first one, though I can't tell for certain. HarperCollins would presumably have all the info there!

* And no, I don't check wardrobes for Narnia... my current one isn't big enough, anyway  

Posted by: @courtenay

Posted by: @coracle

@courtenay Of course I too have that book (since the 1990s).

And yes, there it is on page 30!

 

I also have Sibley's delightful activity book — I think it's called The Magical World of Narnia — which is full of Narnia-related games and puzzles and other fun things for young fans to do. Bought at the same time as the other one, at The Little Bookroom in Elizabeth Street, Melbourne

Yes, I've got that one as well - found in a secondhand shop much more recently!

Posted by: @coracle

The first person to suggest it was fellow-writer and Inkling, Roger Lancelyn Green.

Just another thought — Roger Lancelyn Green co-wrote the first biography of Lewis, along with Walter Hooper. I did have a copy of that once, but started reading it and found it a bit too dry (it's very long), so I must admit I gave up on it and didn't keep it. Does anyone know if Lancelyn Green mentions in that book that he suggested the title "The Chronicles of Narnia" — or if it's in any of his other writings? It would just be interesting to know where Brian Sibley got his information from.

I wonder if “The Chronicles” was intended to be for the order of what occurred in Narnia chronologically. 

Well, we can’t really say for sure if CS Lewis thought of it himself or some else could have come up with the idea. 

Here’s the definition of “Chronicle” that I’ve found: “chronicle something is to describe past or current events. Chronicle is related to chronological and comes from the Greek ta khronika, which means “annals of time.” Events are usually chronicled in the order in which they occurred.”

So perhaps The Chronicles of Narnia may have been intended for what occurred in chronological order. And yes, the books have been numbered for chronological order, except for The Last Battle. 

Posted by: @jasmine_tarkheena

So perhaps The Chronicles of Narnia may have been intended for what occurred in chronological order. And yes, the books have been numbered for chronological order, except for The Last Battle. 

As far as I'm aware, the term "chronicles" simply refers to records of history, and that's presumably what Lancelyn Green was thinking about when he suggested the term to Lewis. The renumbering of the books in chronological order was done by the publishers, long after Lewis's death — I'm not sure exactly when, but it seems to have been about 1980 or just before, whereas the series title "The Chronicles of Narnia", as we've seen, has been in use ever since the Puffin editions were published in the 1960s. So there's no actual relationship between the books being called "Chronicles" and them being numbered in chronological order.

Posted by: @courtenay

Posted by: @coracle

The first person to suggest it was fellow-writer and Inkling, Roger Lancelyn Green.

Just another thought — Roger Lancelyn Green co-wrote the first biography of Lewis, along with Walter Hooper. I did have a copy of that once, but started reading it and found it a bit too dry (it's very long), so I must admit I gave up on it and didn't keep it. Does anyone know if Lancelyn Green mentions in that book that he suggested the title "The Chronicles of Narnia" — or if it's in any of his other writings? It would just be interesting to know where Brian Sibley got his information from.

I think he mentions it in that book. I've got it (it's my main source about the writing and publishing of the Chronicles 🙂 ), not right here, but I should be able to check it tonight or tomorrow.

Yes, I've got Roger Lancelyn Green's biography about Lewis (co-written along with Walter Hooper).

In Chapter X - Through the Wardrobe Green tells that he had dinner with Lewis on 10 March 1949, followed by a "wonderful talk until midnight: he read me two chapters of a story for children he is writing - very good indeed". Green was convinced "that he was listening to a book that could rank with the great ones of its kind". He encouraged Lewis that the story "was more than good", so Lewis completed the story (LWW) and lent it to him.

Green gave it back with some small improvements, especially of children's actual contemporary speech (as he was rather more in touch with children than Lewis was). This was the beginning of Green's reading the manuscripts of the Narnia stories as they were finished, and suggesting corrections.

In March 1951 they had got to what became The Silver Chair.

"Besides such alterations and corrections there was much discussion about the titles of the stories. (Green christened the whole series The Chronicles of Narnia, on the analogy of Andrew Lang's Chronicles of Pantouflia, and the name stuck.)

It seems possible that Green came up with the name of the series during these discussions, so that the name was in place before the series was completed.

I wonder if a different series title would have had any affect on the popularity of the books. If they were just called The Narnia Books or Stories of Narnia would people be attracted to read them? The word Chronicles seem to add more intrigue and historical importance. I guess they could have been called something else, although a better name for the series would be difficult to think of. I think they will always be called Chronicles since the books are now considered classics.