Youth: A Narrative and Two Other Stories.

Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons,, 1902. The horror! The horror! First edition, first impression. The volume marks the first book-form publication of three novellas by Conrad, including "Heart of Darkness", his best-known and most influential work. "A depressing African journey into the Congo Free State in 1890, when he travelled overland and in a paddle-steamer, would be recollected and powerfully transformed in his masterpiece... 'Heart of Darkness', which offered a forewarning of the Hitlerian demagogue, seems virtually inexhaustible in its recessive ambiguities and paradoxes" (ODNB). The story continues to attract fierce debate and criticism. The three novellas were originally serialized in Blackwood's Magazine in 1898, 1899, and 1902. Of this volume, Conrad wrote: "Youth and Heart of Darkness are the first short stories of mine which attracted attention to my work in a wider sphere. Most critics dismissed The End of the Tether either with contempt or with a few cursory remarks" (Wise). This copy has the 32-page publisher's catalogue at the end in the earlier state, dated "10/02"; other copies have the catalogue dated "11/02". Cagle gives no priority between the two states: "the first printing, of 3,150 copies, was completed late in October 1902 with the first bound copies reaching the publisher early in November". Octavo. Original green cloth, spine lettered in gilt, front cover lettered in black, decorations to spine and front cover in black, 32 pp. publisher's catalogue at rear. Bookseller's ticket to rear pastedown. Spine ends bumped, cloth faintly rubbed, outer leaves lightly foxed, contents otherwise clean. A very good copy. Cagle A7a(1).