Lord Jim: A Tale (First Edition - First Issue) Joseph Conrad Antiquarian,First Editions,Literature

First printing of the first edition - with the first issue points including the misprints "anyrate" p. 77, l. 5, "cure" (instead of "cured") p. 226, 7 lines from the bottom, the omission of "keep" after "can" p. 226, 7 lines from the bottom, and "his" p. 319, last line, being printed below the line. Published in October 1900, 2,893 copies were printed (Wise 7 - Thomas J. Wise - A Bibliography of the Writings of Joseph Conrad (1895-1921) ***Very good in dark green cloth-covered boards with gilt titles and black floral decoration to the spine, and black titles and floral decoration to the front board. The gilt is still lovely and bright. The boards are quite clean, but darkened mainly to the spine from age and handling. The boards are not faded, and retain the deep green colour, even on the spine. The head and tail of the spine are slightly rubbed and creased as usual, but there are no tears to the fragile cloth. There is slight rubbing to the cloth at the corners, but these remain sharp and are not bumped. The top edge of the page block is darkened. The binding is nice and straight, without any reading lean. Internally, the book is also very good, with no inscriptions, and very little of the usual foxing - just some light sporadic foxing to the last few pages. The fragile paper has split between the front pastedown and endpaper, but there is no splitting to the actual binding which remains firm. There is slight wrinkling to the fore-edge of the first few pages, and a few light handling marks throughout the book. No creases or tears, but a couple of pages have been roughly uncut - however this doesn't affect the text (please see scans). No dustwrapper as per usual. ***451 pages with no publisher's catalogue (first state). 196mm x 138mm. ***'"Lord Jim" is a novel by Joseph Conrad originally published as a serial in Blackwood's Magazine from October 1899 to November 1900. An early and primary event in the story is the abandonment of a passenger ship in distress by its crew, including a young British seaman named Jim. He is publicly censured for this action and the novel follows his later attempts at coming to terms with himself and his past and seeking redemption and acceptance. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Lord Jim 85th on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. The opening event in "Lord Jim" has been speculated by historians to have been based in part on an actual abandonment of a ship. On 17 July 1880, the British merchantman SS Jeddah set sail from Singapore bound for Penang and Jeddah, with 778 men, 147 women, and 67 children on board. The passengers were Muslims from the Malay states and were travelling to Mecca for the hajj (holy pilgrimage). After rough weather conditions, the Jeddah began taking on water. The hull sprang a large leak, the water rose rapidly, and the captain and officers abandoned the heavily listing ship. They were picked up by another vessel and taken to Aden, where they claimed that the passengers had attacked two engineers and the ship had foundered in poor weather. The pilgrims were abandoned by the crew. However, on 8 August 1880, a French steamship towed Jeddah into Aden and the pilgrims on board survived the incident. An official inquiry followed, as in the novel.' (Wiki) ***First printing (first state) of the true first edition of one of Joseph Conrad's finest novels "Lord Jim" - in the original publisher's green cloth-covered gilt-decorated boards, in very good original condition for a book now over 120 years old. A collector's copy. Comes with an original John Player & Sons cigarette card depicting 'H. M. Frigate "Pomone", launched 1803' in fine condition (please see scans). ***For all our books, postage is charged at cost, allowing for packaging: any shipping rates indicated on ABE are an average only: we will reduce the P & P charge where appropriate - please contact us for postal rates for heavier books and sets etc.