Conrad, Joseph

8vo, "Deep Sea" format edition, fine presentation copy inscribed by the author to his agent's son Ralph Pinker (to | Ralph Pinker | from his friend | Joseph Conrad | 1920"), original sea-green limp leather, upper cover stamped in gold with publisher's nautical device, spine gilt, pictorial nautical endpapers, preserved in green cloth case and quarter green morocco slipcase, some slight wear to the binding

Ralph Pinker, authorial inscription

Cagle A49a(1) (subsequent printing)

Ralph Pinker (1900--1959) was the second son of Conrad's long-term agent J.B. Pinker, who died suddenly in New York in 1922. Ralph's brother Eric took over the firm and became Conrad's agent for the last two years of the author's life, and set up the American branch of the firm in New York in 1926, leaving the younger Ralph in charge of the London office. The story ended unhappily: Eric admitted to embezzlement in 1939 (when the firm was liquidated) and was sent to jail at New York's Sing Sing prison; Ralph later also admitted to malpractice and misappropriation of funds, and was sent to London's Wormwood Scrubs.

Doubleday normally printed Conrad's books simultaneously in cloth and "Deep Sea" leather formats. Cagle speculates, however, that in this case (owing to there being no mention of this format in the initial advertisements) that copies of the "Deep Sea" edition appeared later in the year (probably around October, after the first edition had been published in May).