Conrad, Joseph

8vo, first English edition, first printing, first domestic issue, presentation copy inscribed by the author to his literary agent ("For J.B. Pinker | Joseph Conrad") on front free endpaper, title-page in red and black, original dark green vertically ribbed cloth lettered in gilt on spine, later chemise and slipcase, some browning, ownership signature on front fixed endpaper removed, inkstamp and remnants of label to rear fixed endpaper, repair and loss to rear free endpaper, upper hinge split, embossed library stamp to upper cover inexpertly removed, extremities worn

J.B. Pinker, presentation inscription

Cagle A4c(1)

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Conrad's first collection of short stories, including "The Lagoon", the first short story he wrote. All were previously serialized. It was first published by Scribner's in America on 26 March 1898, and by T. Fisher Unwin in Britain on 4 April 1898. Cagle notes that "it seems likely that Tales of Unrest was originally printed in a run of 1250 copies of which number 250 were for the colonial issue." While still drawing upon Malay material it marks the first stage of Conrad learning to write for popular magazines: "in that book I come nearer to the popular notion of tale-telling than in any previous work of mine" (writing to Unwin, Collected Letters, II., p.48). It also shows Conrad expanding his subject matter to include African material as well as developing personalised narrative voices and relative perspectives.

J.B. PINKER (1863--1922), one of the first literary agents in London, and one of the most astute and most important agents of the twentieth century. Born in Scotland Pinker worked on Tilbury Docks before entering journalism, becoming editor of Pearson's Magazine, and then starting the Granville House Literary Agency in 1896. Pinker was soon attracting more authors than his rival A.P. Watt. In 1900, when Conrad joined him, his clientele included Arnold Bennett, H.G. Wells, Stephen Crane, Henry James and Ford Madox Ford. Sometimes frowned upon as a mere “tradesman” Pinker was “superbly attuned to the changing economic climate of the 1890s publishing market and served the interests of several 'difficult' writers with a skilful blend of shrewdness, tact, generosity, and long-suffering” (Knowles and Moore). This could not have been better demonstrated than with his relationship with Conrad, in which the agent was required to play many roles: friend, banker, father-figure and general factotum. Pinker could see Conrad's potential, but in many ways the author was ill-placed to survive the cut-throat market of the time, committed as he was “to a form of experimental novel, the unpredictable gestation of which involved an enormous amount of energy, time, and living costs” (op.cit.) As Conrad later gratefully acknowledged, Pinker believed in him and backed him for the long term when many did not, bankrolling him through the lean years when he had yet to be a commercial success, in the hope of future payments and royalties. Conrad was forced to split himself between his long serious projects like Nostromo and Under Western Eyes and more commercial journalistic material. Tensions were high between author and agent in these years between 1904 and 1910, with Pinker being asked for larger and larger advances to fund medical costs, household bills and overseas trips. The agent's requests for itemisation and justification were then resented by Conrad, and he sometimes resisted his agent's attempts to link payments to fixed amounts of delivered copy. In December 1899 Pinker's patience finally snapped after the author had been working on Under Western Eyes for two years and then broke off, against his agent's wishes, to write for the English Review. Pinker threatened to cut off all funds; his author retaliated by threatening to throw the manuscript into the fire (see lot 80). After an explosive row the two did not speak for two years. After the dramatic upturn in Conrad's popularity and finances after 1914 the author could finally begin to settle his debts, and latterly the two men met weekly, spending weekends at each other's homes, sharing holidays and even collaborating on a screenplay. Conrad later wrote: “those books which, people say, are an asset of English Literature owe their existence to Mr Pinker as much as to me. For 15 years of my writing life he has seen me through periods of unproductiveness[,] through illnesses[,] through all sorts of troubles...” (Collected Letters, V, p.619). Conrad was deeply affected by his agent's sudden death in New York in 1922.