FIRST EDITION OF CONRAD'S FIRST BOOK

CONRAD, Joseph. Almayer's Folly. A Story of an Eastern River. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1895. Octavo, original green cloth, top edge gilt, uncut. Housed in a custom cloth slipcase. $3500.

First edition, first state, of Conrad's scarce first book, one of only 2000 copies printed.

It was after meeting the real "Olmeijer" in East Borneo in 1887 that Conrad began working on what was to become his first novel, which he finished six years later in 1894 (he was also active as a seaman during most of this period). He submitted the completed manuscript to Unwin for consideration as part of their "Pseudonym Library," adopting the pseudonym "Kamudi" (Malayan for "rudder"). However, Unwin's reader Edward Garnett saw the manuscript's promise and accepted it for separate publication under Conrad's own name. Almayer's Folly was not published serially, and makes its first appearance in print here. This copy first state, with the letters missing from the last two lines of page 110 and the period missing after the headline on page 43. Cagle A1a.1. Bookplate.

Interior generally clean, text block expertly reinforced, original cloth with mild discoloration along upper edges. An extremely good copy of Conrad's scarce first book in the original cloth.