Conrad, Joseph

writing about his first novel Almayer's Folly before the publication, the first letter admitting that the "Pantai River" in the novel was identifiable as a river in Borneo and regretting "to see my own stupid finger pointing for ever to the spot on the map", for he has created a self-contained world ("...Any criticism that would look for real description of places and events would be disastrous to that particle of the universe which is nobody and nothing in the world but myself"...), the second admitting that the final typescript had omitted two paragraphs, which are therefore missing from the first edition, discussing advance publicity for the novel ("...Could you not say something about it being a "Civilized story in savage surroundings?"...") and agreeing to omit the preface, 5 pages, 8vo, 17 Gillingham Street, London, [mid-October/mid-November 1894 and early January 1895], adhesive marks, fold tears professionally restored

[together with:] two pages of notes, possibly in Chesson's hand, summarising reviews of Almayer's Folly and An Outcast of the Islands

Sotheby's, 15 December 1970, lot 779

Collected Letters, I, pp.186 and 198-99

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Wilfrid Hugh Chesson (1870-1952) was a novelist, reviewer, editor and translator, who also worked as a reader for T. Fisher Unwin. When, on 4 July 1894, Unwin received an unsolicited typescript entitled Almayer's Folly by an author signing himself "Kamudi", it was sent to Chesson for comment. Chesson later recalled that the novel "was under my eyes as Mr Unwin's receiver and weeder of MSS and I remember how the magical melancholy of that masterpiece submerged me" (quoted from his review of Under Western Eyes), and he recommended it to Unwin's senior reader, Edward Garnett, who in turn advised Unwin to "Hold on to this". Conrad was duly offered £20 for the novel's copyright. Conrad met both Chesson and Garnett when he called at Unwin's offices shortly afterwards - his first encounter with the professional literary world.

These are the only two known letters by Conrad to Chesson and are among the earliest letters by Conrad on purely literary subjects. They reveal how closely Chesson was involved in preparing the novel for publication and the level of trust between the two men. Chesson invited Conrad to read the manuscript of his own novel, Name This Child, later in 1894, and the two men remained in contact in later years. For the rest of his life Chesson took great pride in considering himself the man who discovered Conrad.