CHANCE: A TALE IN TWO PARTS [Volume fourteen of the Works of Joseph Conrad]

Descripción

Volume fourteen of the Works of Joseph Conrad, which was published as a set of twenty volumes by John Grant in 1925. ***Please note that this is an ex-school library book. With a four-page author's preface to the fore. ***Very good in navy-blue cloth-covered boards, with gilt titles to the spine and gilt titles and design to the front board. The boards are clean except for some marks on the spine where the old library classification numbers have been removed. Edges and corners slightly rubbed and worn. Head of spine slightly creased and nicked. Top edge of text-block stained dark blue by the publisher to match the binding cloth. The binding is still tight with no signs of loose pages or splitting at the hinges. Internally also very good, with a monochrome photographic frontispiece showing: Chance: 'A Reduced Facsimile of a page of unrevised MS'. There is an old School Library bookplate to the front pastedown: 'Schola Lincolniensis' which denotes Lincoln School [since 1974 the Lincoln Christs Hospital School] with handwritten library classification numbers and a pencil name and date Nov 1935 on the bookplate. Remains of library book pocket to front pastedown. Another later owner's name and date to top of front pastedown in red ink, and a very small bookseller's sticker. Small school library stamp to bottom of front free endpaper. Facsimile signature and short inscription in printed sepia ink: 'cordially yours J. Conrad' to both front and rear endpapers. Small 'Lincoln School Library stamp to rear free endpaper. Sepia ship line illustration to rear pastedown. Sporadic light foxing to prelims. Interior pages clean. No dustwrapper. [Please see scans] *** 220mm x 142mm. ix prelim pages including author's foreword and chapter contents page plus 447 pages. ***'"Chance" is a novel by Joseph Conrad, published in 1913, following serial publication the previous year. Although the novel was not one upon which Conrad's later critical reputation was to depend, it was his greatest commercial success upon initial publication. "Chance" is narrated by Conrad's regular narrator, Charles Marlow, along with other narrators, who take up the complex narrative at different points. The novel is also unusual among its author's works for such strong emphasis on a female character: the heroine, Flora de Barral. The narrators attempt to interpret various episodes in the life of Miss de Barral, the daughter of a convicted swindler named Smith de Barral. Miss de Barral leads a sheltered life for as long as her father is prosperous, but at other times must rely on the generosity of others, who resent her or have agendas for her, before she escapes by marrying one Captain Anthony. Much of the book involves the musing of the various narrators over what she and the Captain expected from this union, and what they actually got from it. When her father is released from prison, he joins them on the ship, and the book heads towards its denouement. Breaking away from tradition, "Chance" deals with social issues surrounding feminism and financial speculation, involving Mrs. Fyne and Flora de Barral, as presented by the various narrators. The storyline oscillates between human will and purposeful activity and an opposing "apathetic" force which nullifies the importance of human action. "Chance" opened a path to commercial success for Conrad after years of slow progress and obscurity. This success could be measured by the record sales of the book in 1914, which outsold all his previous publications and shot him to fame.' [Wiki] ***An ex school library copy of Vol. XIV of the Works of Joseph Conrad. A nice original reading copy. ***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. N° de ref. del artículo 3723x

Contactar al vendedor

Denunciar este artículo

Detalles bibliográficos