Conrad, Joseph

8vo, first edition, presentation copy inscribed by the author on front endpaper to Hugh Walpole with a long inscription about the novel ("For Hugh Walpole. | This novel begun in 1898 | was laid aside for several | months and finished in Knocke | in the summer of 1900. | The subject was suggested by | an incident much talked about | in the east of a pilgrim steam-ship | being found in the Arabian sea | by a French gunboat with the | pilgrims on board but deserted | by all her white officers | Joseph Conrad | June. 1922."), original light green smooth cloth lettered in gilt on spine and in black on upper cover, some browning and spotting, occasional short tears, slight water-staining, subscription library label, bookplates, cloth cockled, binding rubbed and soiled, hinges split

Sir Hugh Walpole, bookplates; Maurice F. Neville, his sale, Sotheby's, 13 April 2004, lot 29

Cagle A5a(1)

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate.
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Conrad's reference to "Knocke" refers to Knocke-sur-Mer, the coastal resort in Ostend.

Writing in The Times on 6 June 1941 after Walpole's death, T.S. Eliot stated: "One trait of Sir Hugh Walpole, of which, I hope, posterity will not be left in ignorance, was a capacity to appreciate and admire generously the work of authors very different from himself...".

HUGH [SEYMOUR] WALPOLE (1884—1941), prolific New Zealand-born novelist, one of a number of avid admirers of Conrad who gathered around him in his later years. Previously a schoolmaster Walpole became a close companion of Henry James in 1909, driven by his “insatiable urge to connect himself to literary celebrities” (Knowles and Moore), and thus entered the most famous literary salons and circles of the era. He did not meet Conrad until 1918, after returning from wartime service in Russia, and after previously writing an early critical review of his fiction (Joseph Conrad, 1916). From 1918 he was a regular visitor to Conrad’s Kent home, normally arriving “all smiles and friendliness”, and (unlike Ford Madox Ford) well-liked by the family, even if Conrad himself did not always approve of his inclination to gossip. It was clearly during these visits that Conrad inscribed a number of his first editions to his friend (as present in this collection), often with some background information and an account of the genesis of the relevant work. Conrad read and approved Walpole’s two Russian novels, The Dark Forest and The Secret City (1922). Walpole responded by dedicating The Cathedral (1922) to his friend. Walpole lived in Cumbria from 1924 until his death in 1941. His house, Brackenburn, with a beautiful position overlooking Derwentwater, housed his large library of some 30,000 books, together with a collection of paintings. The library was sold in a series of auctions at Christie's between May 1945 and July 1946, with many collectors since finding copies of his books, with their distinctive “Brackenburn” book-labels,  making their way into their collections.