Joseph Conrad First Editions

• Almayer's Folly — 1895 · T. Fisher UnwinFirst edition, first state, 1895; 272 pp., octavo, with half-title present and the title page printed in red and black. Bound in publisher's dark green cloth, lettered in gilt on the spine, top edge gilt and the remaining edges untrimmed. The first state point is typographic: the type is dropped/missing in the final two lines of page 110 (Cagle A1a(1); Wise 1; Smith 1). Print-run figures conflict across the…. T. Fisher Unwin, London, is the true first of Conrad's first book, released at the end of April 1895 (first reviewed in The Scotsman, 29 April 1895), and the census claim is confirmed. The first American — Macmillan and Co., New York, 1895, roughly 650 copies, published in the first week of May 1895 per Cagle — is a genuinely distinct edition: it was typeset from uncorrected proofs and its text varies…. No contemporaneous book-club edition is documented. Copies lacking the page 110 type-drop are later. Conrad's later collected and uniform editions are 'first thus' traps and carry none of the 1895 points.
• The Nigger of the 'Narcissus' — 1898 · William HeinemannFirst English edition: Heinemann, London, title page dated 1898 though actually published in early December 1897; 259 pp. plus [4] pp. advertisements and a 16-page Heinemann 'Autumn Announcements' catalogue dated 1897, which is the earliest state of the advertisement catalogue. Bound in dark slate/grey cloth stamped in gilt, with a gilt life-preserver (lifebuoy) device enclosing the title on the upper cover and…. The census claim needs correction on precedence. The American edition PRECEDES the English by a matter of days: Dodd, Mead and Company, New York, published it in late November 1897 under the substituted title 'The Children of the Sea: A Tale of the Forecastle', ahead of Heinemann's London publication in early December 1897. Both are collected and both should be named — the Dodd, Mead is the first edition by date,…. For the Dodd, Mead: all copies without a date on the front of the title leaf are merely reprints — this is the decisive reprint tell. For the Heinemann: later impressions state 'New Impression 1898' on the copyright page. Conrad's later collected editions, and the separately issued 1914 'Preface' printing, are 'first thus' and not first editions of the novel.
• Lord Jim — 1900 · William Blackwood & SonsFirst edition in book form, first impression, 1900, octavo; bound in original green cloth with gilt titling on the spine and black titling on the front board, edges untrimmed. The novel had been serialised in Blackwood's Magazine from October 1899 to November 1900, so the book is a first in book form only. Three text points identify the first impression: on page 77, line 5, 'any rate' is printed as one word,…. William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh and London, 1900 is the true first in book form, and the census's precedence direction is confirmed. The first American is Doubleday & McClure Co., New York, 1900 (green cloth stamped in darker green, 392 pp.; Cagle A5b, Keating 27) — a distinct setting made from English proofs that Conrad neither revised nor corrected; by his own autograph note its text sits closer to the…. No contemporaneous book-club edition is documented. Copies lacking the page 77 / 226 / 319 points are later impressions. Doubleday's long series of later reprints and the collected editions are 'first thus' and share the American, not the English, text.
• Typhoon — 1902 · G.P. Putnam's SonsFirst edition in book form, G.P. Putnam's Sons / The Knickerbocker Press (New York, the imprint also naming London), 1902 (published September 1902); pagination v, [1], 204, [5] pp, with 4 pp of publisher's advertisements concluding the volume. Illustrated with a frontispiece and five inserted plates by Maurice Greiffenhagen, and bound in pictorial dark green cloth with orange lettering and an embossed ship…. American true first: 'Typhoon' first appeared in book form in the Putnam separate edition (New York, 1902), preceding its first English book appearance in the collection 'Typhoon and Other Stories' (William Heinemann, London, 1903). Both are collected in their own right. First-thus trap: the 1903 Heinemann 'Typhoon and Other Stories' is a genuine first edition of that collected volume but is not the first book appearance of the tale 'Typhoon,' which is the 1902 Putnam. No book-club edition is documented for the 1902 first.
• Youth: A Narrative; and Two Other Stories — 1902 · William Blackwood & SonsFirst English edition, William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh and London, published 13 November 1902 — the first book appearance of "Heart of Darkness," collected here with "Youth" and "The End of the Tether" (all three had appeared earlier in Blackwood's Magazine). The title page carries the 1902 Blackwood imprint; there is no printing statement or number line, so state is read from the rear matter. Collation is…. The Blackwood 1902 Edinburgh/London printing is the true first; the census claim is confirmed. The first American edition is McClure, Phillips & Co., New York, 1903 (Cagle A7b; Keating 38), 381 pp. plus a blank leaf, in blindstamped green cloth with gilt to the spine and upper board — a separate and textually inferior setting, since McClure set from uncorrected English proofs and Conrad's final corrections are…. No book-club issue is documented for the 1902 Blackwood. The chief traps are "first thus" reprints: later Doubleday and Dent collected-edition volumes, and any stand-alone printing of Heart of Darkness, are not the first book appearance — that occurs only within this 1902 collection. A rear catalogue dated later than 11/02, or the absence of the catalogue entirely, indicates a later state or a rebound copy rather….
• Nostromo — 1904 · Harper & BrothersFirst English edition, Harper & Brothers, London, published on or about 14 October 1904 (the British Museum deposit copy was received 18 October); the novel had been serialised in T.P.'s Weekly from January to October 1904. Approximately 2,000 copies were printed. The title page is dated 1904 with no further printings listed and no number line. The identifying typographic point is at p. 187, which is misnumbered…. The census claim is correct in outcome but imprecise in wording: the London Harper printing of October 1904 does precede the New York one, but the American is a separately set edition rather than a second "issue" of the same sheets. The first American edition is Harper & Brothers, New York, 1904 (Cagle A10b / A10b.1; Keating 62; Supino A10.6.0), bound in green cloth decorated in orange and black, with its own…. No book-club edition is documented for 1904. Reprint tells to watch are the later Doubleday and Dent collected-edition volumes and the Modern Library issue, all of which are "first thus" only. A copy in green cloth decorated in orange and black is the American edition, not the English first, however the title page reads.
• The Secret Agent — 1907 · Methuen & Co.First English edition, Methuen & Co., London, September 1907, in a first printing of 2,500 copies. The title page is dated 1907 with no printing statement or number line. Collation is [6], 442, [2] pp., followed by 40 pages of inserted publisher's advertisements at the rear dated September 1907 — the ad date and the 40-page count are the standard first-impression check. The textual point of issue is on the last…. Methuen, London, September 1907 is the accepted true first and the census claim stands, but the margin is narrower than the claim implies: the first American edition — Harper & Brothers, New York (Cagle A12b, binding a; Smith 13; Keating 75; Conolly 100 15b), 4,000 copies in blue pictorial cloth — also appeared in September 1907, and the sources consulted do not fix an exact day for either. Methuen's priority…. No book-club edition is documented for 1907. The relevant issue caveat is colonial: of the 2,500 copies, 500 were allotted to Canada and 500 to colonial markets, and Methuen later redirected unsold colonial copies to the home market with no visible evidence of cancellation — colonial and domestic copies are therefore not reliably distinguishable. Copies lacking the 40-page September 1907 advertisement section, or….
• Under Western Eyes — 1911 · Methuen & Co.First edition, Methuen & Co., London, 1911 (published October 1911; the recorded date is 5 October 1911), in an edition of 3,000 copies; pagination [vi], 377, [1] pp, followed by 32 pp of publisher's advertisements dated September 1911 — the dated terminal ads are the key first-issue point. Bound in red linen-grain cloth, the spine lettered and decorated in gilt, and issued in a rare green dust jacket printed in…. UK true first: Methuen (London), October 1911, precedes the first American edition, Harper & Brothers (New York), also October 1911; the two fall in the same month but the Methuen holds precedence. The Harper first American is readily distinguished — blue cloth stamped in gilt and an orange dust jacket printed in black, versus the Methuen's red cloth and green jacket. First issue carries the 32 pp of terminal advertisements dated September 1911; the dated ads and the 1911 title-page imprint identify the first printing, and later impressions differ. No book-club edition is documented for the 1911 first.
• Chance: A Tale in Two Parts — 1914 · Methuen & Co., LondonFirst edition: Methuen & Co., London, 1914. The text was set and its title leaf printed in 1913, but a binders' strike delayed publication to January 1914; on most copies the 1913 title leaf was cancelled and replaced by a cancel leaf dated 1914, with the stub visible on the verso. Roughly fifty copies (about 51 per Methuen's records) retain the original 1913-dated title leaf — the earliest state. Genuine…. English Methuen edition (January 1914) is the true first; the American Doubleday, Page edition followed later in 1914 — precedence is English-first. Only the two-part English printing carries the 1913/1914 cancel-title complication. Later Methuen impressions (second through fourth) exist; the fourth impression is the one into which spurious 1913 title leaves were inserted. Later printings lack the Autumn 1913 catalogue and the cancel-stub configuration. No book-club issue documented for the 1914 first.
• Victory: An Island Tale — 1915 · Doubleday, Page & Company, Garden City, New YorkFirst edition: Doubleday, Page & Company, Garden City, New York, 1915 (published 26 March 1915). First-state point of issue: the closing quotation mark is LACKING on line 3 of page 431 (present in later states). Bound in dark blue cloth, lettered in gilt with a gilt vignette on the front cover; collation includes a half-title and runs to 462 pp. plus colophon, the copyright/colophon leaf carrying the Country Life…. Classic precedence trap: the American Doubleday, Page edition (26 March 1915) precedes the English Methuen (London) edition of September 1915 — the US printing is the true first, roughly six months ahead. The Methuen London first is separately identified by the first-state title page with a comma after 'Essex Street'; both editions are collected but the US is primary. No book-club issue documented for the 1915 first. Later Doubleday and Methuen impressions lack the first-issue points (the p.431 quotation mark is corrected in later states).

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