“AMONG THE VERY GREAT NOVELISTS IN THE LANGUAGE”: IMPORTANT SET OF CONRAD’S WORKS, SIGNED BY HIM

CONRAD, Joseph. The Works. London: Heinemann, (1921-27). Twenty volumes. Octavo, original half cloth, uncut and mostly unopened. $4800.

Signed limited first edition, number 466 of only 780 signed sets of what is considered the best edition of Conrad’s work.

Conrad did not publish his first novel until the age of 38, but his work earned him a place with the great modernists of the 20th-century, “among the very great novelists in the language” (Drabble, 225). “His stories had excitement of a new kind, and his style, by its very queerness, could allure… powerfully… achieving a perfect equilibrium of pictorial and narrative style” (DNB). With prefaces by Conrad in each volume. Conrad sets are scarce, and this signed limited edition, considered to be the best edition, is particularly desirable. Wise (1928), 56.

Interiors fine, only light soiling to original cloth and boards. A near-fine set.