TYPHOON and Other Stories

1903. London: William Heinemann, 1903. 2 pp preliminary ads plus 32 pp undated ads. Original grey cloth with life preserver in gilt.

First Edition of this collection of four tales, including one of Conrad's most famous ones ("Typhoon" itself). One of the others is "Falk," Conrad's most concentrated study on his often-recurring theme of cannibalism. "Typhoon" itself had been published the year before by Putnam in the U. S., but the other three appear here in book form for the first time. Though bound in the standard TYPHOON binding, this was a colonial copy transferred to domestic use: it has the colonial title page (with the title all in capitals, and without the windmill device), and lacks the colonial half-title (which, because it identified the book as "Reserved for Colonies only," was removed by the publisher when the book was re-designated for domestic use). The ad catalogue is the standard one for domestic copies. We have seen several similar domestic/colonial hybrid copies: the publisher adjusted whatever copies were in stock to meet the demand for TYPHOON in the domestic and colonial markets. This is a fine, bright copy. Supino A8.16.0 (this copy, with his brief penciled notations); Cagle A8b(3). Provenance: bookplates of Scott Cunningham and of Conrad bibliographer David J. Supino; on the rear paste-down is penciled "May 1946 | from the Parke-Bernet Galleries