Conrad, Joseph

autograph manuscript synopsis of the novel later published as The Rescue on a single leaf of lined paper, providing details of its proposed length ("no more than 100,000 and no less than 90,000 words") and Conrad's timetable for completion; a summary of the plot; and an explanation of his narrative methods ("...The events shall be the outcome of feelings; consequently there is no villain of romance in the story - and no impossible hero. But it shall be a romance nevertheless..."), themes, and use of historical background; 2 pages, 4to (270 x 210 mm), [1897], in a manilla folder in a blue cloth slipcase

Theodore A. Swan; sale of his library, Anderson Galleries, New York, 3-4 February 1937, lot 88; Halsted B. Vander Poel; sale of his library, Christie's, London, 3 March 2004, lot 272

Moore 213; K.I. Baxter, '"The Rescuer" Synopsis: A Transcription and Commentary', The Conradian, Vol. 31 ( 2006), pp. 117-127

Condition is provided in the main body of the catalogue, where appropriate
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An important witness to Conrad's artistic intentions at an early stage of writing The Rescue, expressing his ambition to combine romance, realism, and technical experimentalism. Conrad provided a synopsis of The Rescue to William Blackwood in a letter dated 6 September 1897 and a similar synopsis to S.S. Pawling, a partner at Heinemann, on 8 November. Both of those synopses are similar, but not identical, to the current text. It has been suggested that the current manuscript was produced for Pawling in June 1897, when he was sent a copy of Part One of the novel and, following a visit to Conrad, agreed to publish the completed work. The dating found in the manuscript fits this chronology (it shows him calculating a consistent writing speed of 25,000 words every three months), but it is difficult to explain convincingly why Conrad would have sent Pawling an outline of the novel in November if he had previously been sent one in June. It therefore seems likely that the current manuscript was composed in June, probably for Pawling, but that it was, for whatever reason, retained by Conrad. It may therefore have served as a template when Conrad composed his later letters to Blackwood and Pawling (the editors of the Collected Letters (IX, p.53) suggest that it is a "rough draft that Conrad consulted when composing" those later letters).