Tales of Hearsay (First Edition)

CONRAD, Joseph (preface R. B. Cunninghame Graham; jacket illus. E. Lucchesi). Tales of Hearsay. London: T. Fisher Unwin Ltd., 1925.

8vo. Original dark green vertically-ribbed publisher's cloth. Front cover and spine stamped in gold. Original unclipped dust jacket, illustrated with ships and gulls by E. Lucchesi. [6], 287, [1] pp. First edition, first (domestic) issue. Bibliographic references: Smith 27; Keating 193. Inscribed in pencil to front free endpaper: "A.M.E.B." to "W.M.B." Provenance: from the library of Australian artist Alice Marian Ellen Bale, inscribed to her father, William M. Bale.

Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) died at his home in Bishopsbourne, Kent, in August 1924, and Tales of Hearsay, gathered and published the following year, is a genuinely poignant assembly: a collection that brings together, in a single posthumous volume, both the earliest and the very last short stories Conrad ever wrote. "The Black Mate," composed around 1884, is among the first pieces of short fiction Conrad attempted, written years before Almayer's Folly would establish him as a novelist; "The Tale," by contrast, was among the final short stories he completed, and is widely regarded by critics as one of the finest in his entire output. Between these two poles sit "The Warrior's Soul" and "Prince Roman" — the latter set in Conrad's native Poland, the only story in his mature output to engage directly and explicitly with the country of his birth, drawing on a real historical figure, Prince Roman Sanguszko, whose participation in the November Uprising of 1830 against Russian rule Conrad had heard recounted within his own family.

The preface is contributed by Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham (1852–1936) — the Scottish writer, adventurer, and politician who had been Conrad's close friend since the 1890s, and to whom Conrad had dedicated Typhoon. Cunninghame Graham's introduction, itself a substantial twenty-two-page essay, offers a personal and admiring assessment of Conrad's achievement from a friend uniquely positioned to write it. The collection was published simultaneously in London and New York, a mark of the international reputation Conrad had achieved by the time of his death — a reputation built on Heart of Darkness (1899), Lord Jim (1900), and Nostromo (1904), novels that had, over the preceding quarter-century, established him as one of the essential prose stylists in the English language, remarkable not least for having been written in what was, for Conrad, a third language, acquired only in adulthood.

This copy carries an unusually pleasing Australian provenance. The pencil inscription "A.M.E.B." to "W.M.B." identifies the book as having belonged to Alice Marian Ellen Bale (1875–1955), one of Australia's most distinguished flower and still life painters of the early twentieth century, whose reputation in Australian art history is such that the A.M.E. Bale Travelling Scholarship and Art Prize — established through her own will, and today considered among the most prestigious awards in Australian representational painting — continues to be awarded biennially to emerging Australian artists in her honour. Bale inscribed this copy to her father, William M. Bale, a small but genuine trace of a significant Australian artist's own hand and family life passing through this copy of Conrad's final collection.

Very good in good dust jacket. Dust jacket unclipped, has some markings, chips to spine at upper edge, and tear along front cover across title. Bindings excellent, some small markings to covers near edges. Contents very good, age toning to endpapers, very minor foxing throughout text block. Previous seller's condition clipping present to front.

This book is currently on display in our Leichhardt store.
If you would like more information or to arrange a viewing, please contact: rarebooks@harryhartog.com.au

Catalogue Number: HH000021