ALMAYER'S FOLLY. A Story of an Eastern River

1895. [a handsome copy] London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1895. Original dark green cloth.

First Edition of Joseph Conrad's first book, an edition believed to have consisted of 1000-1250 copies. Conrad, after meeting the real "Olmeijer" in East Borneo in 1887, gradually produced the manuscript of this book over the six years 1889-1895. He submitted it to Unwin for consideration in their "Pseudonym Library", using the pseudonym "Kamudi" (Malayan for "rudder") -- enclosing the return postage, so sure was he of its rejection. However, Unwin's reader Edward Garnett saw the manuscript's promise and accepted it for non-pseudonymous publication. This copy is in the first state (as are most copies), with the letters missing from the last two lines of page 110. Condition is unusually fine, with virtually no wear at all (there are no nicks or chips in the spine ends, and only hair-line cracking of the original endpapers); about the only flaw we can come up with is the almost-unavoidable slight browning of the olive green cloth on the spine. ALMAYER'S FOLLY is scarce in this condition. Cagle A1a.1.