Joseph Conrad: Life and Letters

Garden City: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1927. First Edition, Later Printing. Hardcover. Near fine/very good. A Near Fine copy of the first edition, later printing, issued in two volumes in about Very Good dust jackets with the jackets showing some sunning to the spines, some chips and some quite small tears, some damage to the right side of the jacket's spine panel for Volume One, and some sunning to the volumes where the jackets are chipped. The original publisher's blue cloth is lettered and decorated in gilt on the spines and each front board bears a facsimile of Joseph Conrad's signature in gilt. The top edge of each closed page block is in gilt as well. The set contains a frontispiece in each volume and the two volumes together contain a total of 12 plates and four facsimiles, including two tipped-in. In spite of some flaws in his work, this set was a significant step forward in Conrad studies. To produce it, Jean-Aubry gathered approximately 2,000 Conrad letters. Those in private hands he returned their owners and dozens of them have since disappeared. (Some of Conrad's letters to John Galsworthy are known only due to this work.) In his presentation of some of the letters, Jean-Aubry left out matters that he, a product of his era, considered too delicate to include or which would, in his judgment, reflect poorly on Conrad or his correspondents. Altogether a rather nice and Near Fine set in Very Good dust jackets and RATHER SCARCE TO THE MARKET.