<P> The Magician's Nephew is a children's high fantasy novel by C.S. Lewis, first published by Bodley Head in 1955 . It was later published with the work of illustrators Pauline Baynes and Chris Van Allsburg in 1978, and with contributions by Leo and Diane Dillon in 1994 . It is the sixth published of seven novels in The Chronicles of Narnia (1950--1956); it is volume one of the series in recent editions, which sequence the books according to Narnia history . Like the others, it was illustrated by Pauline Baynes whose work has been retained in many later editions . The Bodley Head was a new publisher for The Chronicles, a change from Geoffrey Bles . </P> <P> The Magician's Nephew is a prequel to the series . The middle third of the novel features creation of the Narnia world by Aslan the lion, centred on a section of a lamp - post brought by accidental observers from London in 1900 . The visitors then participate in the beginning of Narnia history, 1000 years before The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (which inaugurated the series in 1950). </P> <P> The frame story is set in England and features two children ensnared in experimental travel via "the wood between the worlds". Thus, the novel shows Narnia and our middle - age world to be only two of many in a multiverse, which changes as some worlds begin and others end . It also explains the origin of foreign elements in Narnia, not only the lamp - post but also the White Witch and a human king and queen . </P> <P> Lewis began The Magician's Nephew soon after completing The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, spurred by a friend's question about the lamp - post in the middle of nowhere, but he needed more than five years to complete it . The story includes several autobiographical elements and explores a number of themes with general moral and Christian implications, including atonement, original sin, temptation and the order of nature . </P>

When does the magician's nephew take place