Conrad, Joseph

8vo, corrected proof of the first (published) English edition annotated by Conrad, front endpaper marked (not in Conrad's hand) "Corrected Proof" and stamped opposite "The Temple Press | Letchworth | Mar 12 1920", autograph corrections in ink to title page and over 90 pages of the text, typescript bound in opposite title page providing motto for the title page (initialled by Conrad), further typescript providing text for the dedication page inserted opposite the Contents leaf (dedication of seven lines, to Frederic Courtland Penfield, with Conrad's autograph directions to the printer), p.1 of the text stamped "The Temple Press | Letchworth | Mar 12 1920", three page autograph letter to Samuel Everitt (8vo, Oswalds, 21 August 1921) tipped-in at the beginning, rebound in three-quarter brown morocco gilt, top edge gilt, other edges uncut, leaves very lightly browned, a few tiny closed tears

The author, with his autograph revisions; Samuel Everitt, treasurer at Doubleday, the American publishers (see above)

cf Cagle A49b(1) and A49b(2)

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Conrad making his final revisions: a valuable contribution to the analysis of the development of the author's work of longest gestation, which took him more than 20 years to complete. The corrections to the text include the replacement of "Edith" by "Mrs Travers", amendments to punctuation, and the careful revision of the phrasing in multiple places.

The Rescue, which Conrad began in 1896 to capitalise on the popularity of Lingard in Almayer's Folly, has been described by the author's bibliographer as his "albatross", with the first draft of the novel not completed until 23 May 1919. A version of it -- not apparently identical to Conrad's manuscript -- was serialized in Land and Water in the UK and Romance in America in the first half of 1919 and the end of 1919/early 1920 respectively. Conrad continued to work on the novel extensively before book publication. The author's heavily annotated proofs (from the Land and Water sheets) are preserved at the Beinecke Library at Yale, and the Collected Letters record that Conrad was working on this throughout the spring of 1920, with Doubleday in America initially setting the text from an earlier proof (this then had to be heavily revised, causing much consternation; Conrad was an inveterate reviser, sometimes working on multiple versions of a novel or story, whether in manuscript, typescript, proof or already published periodical and book editions).

On 27 March he records in a letter to Eric Pinker that "I expect Doubleday has got Dent's proof already by this time" (Letters, VII, p.60). Given the date-stamps in the present lot, this would appear to be either this or another set of Dent's uncorrected proofs, which Doubleday then went ahead to use to set the first American edition, published on 21 May 1920. However, the text in the American edition is not always identical to the uncorrected text present in the present lot. For instance, the opening sentence of chapter VI of Part 3 in the first American edition "After a time this absolute silence which she almost could feel pressing upon her on all sides induced a state of hallucination" appears here as "After a time this absolute silence which she almost could feel pressing upon her on all sides induced in Edith a state of hallucination". So the proof received by Doubleday may have varied slightly from the present lot, or possibly Doubleday made errors in the setting. Dent produced an advance copy for private distribution in Britain shortly afterwards (which Cagle calls the first English edition, unpublished, A49b(1)), which is almost identical to the American text.

Either way, nearly all of Conrad's revisions to the present proof are then incorporated into the first (published) English edition, which appeared on 24 June 1920. For instance, in the passage quoted above, Conrad makes the autograph revision changing "Edith" to "Mrs Travers", which is how it appears in the  final text. Some of the suggested italicization does not appear, though this is incorporated into later editions of the work, such as that for the Collected Works, 1921 (see lot 148).

The letter bound in at the beginning is to Samuel Everitt, the treasurer at Doubleday, the American publishers, and is in advance of a visit to Oswalds by Everitt and his party  ("...We will be very pleased to see you all here on Thursday afternoon if that day suits you..."). The letter is not published in The Collected Letters though Conrad refers to Everitt's visit in a letter to J.B. Pinker on 22nd August. It is not clear whether Conrad presented this corrected proof to Everitt at this time, or whether Everitt had received it at Doubleday during the publication process the year before.