GLEN GOODKNIGHT| The Disordered Image

Glen GoodKnight – In His Own Words

My reading and collecting of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and later Charles Williams continued through my college years until 1967. It was that year when my Collection won First Prize in the Student Library Competition at California State University at Los Angeles (even though the collection was less than 3% of what it is now). This, along with the new public interest in Tolkien, moved me to found The Mythopoeic Society in October of the same year. Besides the monthly book discussions, and semi-annual costumed picnics in the Spring and Autumn, I organized a one day Narnia Conference in 1969, and published the subsequent Narnia Conference Proceedings.

The following year, 1970, the first Mythopoeic Conference was organized, and has continued each year to date. The conferences last three to four days, and include papers, panels, art show, banquet, and opening and closing ceremonies. It is difficult to describe all the activities, both scheduled and unscheduled, the Guests of Honor, the mix of people, the discussions formal and informal, the costumes and Pageantry. So much has happened and accomplished at these annual events. A complete list of all the Conferences is available online. The photo here shows myself presenting The Mythopoeic Scholarship Award at the second Conference in 1971.

My interest in collecting both Lewis and Tolkien at the beginning was limited to English language editions, but in the process of collecting I came across translations as well. My serious interest in translations came in 1975, when I journeyed to England, Wales, Ireland and Belgium. The primarily purpose was to visit people and places known to Tolkien, Lewis and Williams. The six week stay had many highlights, including:

The visits to the homes of Pauline Baynes (the premier Narnia illustrator) and Priscilla (Tolkien’s only daughter) were both very pleasant. They were both very gracious, and the fond memories have not faded even after 30 years. During my visit with Priscilla, I was happily surprised to learn she was selling books for charitable purposes at the then equivalent current book stores prices. The books had belonged to her father, who had passed on almost two years earlier. About half of these were first edition translations of Tolkien in various languages. Realizing this was indeed a unique opportunity,  I returned the next day with two large empty suitcases,  and  after  much  good talk, left later with all I could take away.  These books included:  Afrikaans,  Danish,  Dutch, Finnish,  French,  German,  Japanese,  Italian,  Norwegian,  Polish,  Spanish  and Swedish.  Since  then,  I continued to collect Tolkien, including translations, so that now half of the entire Tolkien collection is comprised of foreign editions. As time when on, I collected more and more of Lewis translations, especially Narnia books, feeling they had a charm and exotic mystery to them, as well as in some cases having totally different artwork. In the days before the internet, collecting was basically checking bookstores in every city I visited, from book dealers’ catalogs, or at auctions held at the Mythopoeic Conferences.

In 1992 I returned to England for the J.R.R. Tolkien Centenary Conference held at Keble College, Oxford, and subsequently was the Co-Editor of the Proceedings of the J.R.R. Tolkien Centenary Conference. During the Conferencer I had the opportunity  to  talk  with  many  fascinating people from many countries around the world. It was during that journey that I had the pleasure of revisiting both Owen Barfield and Pauline Baynes at their residences. I personally presented them each with the Mythopoeic Society’s Life Time Achievement Award (LTAA), to express sincere appreciation for all their life time accomplishments. This 1992 English journey was memorable in countless ways.

Glen GoodKnight offered a special thanks to the following persons and organizations who helped assemble his website. The Disordered Image, likewise, wishes to show gratitude for their contributions to the Narniad translations area of our site.