TALES OF HEARSAY

1925. With a Preface by R.B. Cunninghame Graham. Garden City NY: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1925. Original blue cloth, with dust jacket.

First Edition (American -- published on 23 January 1925, the same day as the English edition). This posthumous collection of four tales, published the year after Conrad died, includes "The Tale," considered to be one of his best short stories. The others are "The Warrior's Soul," "Prince Roman" and (one of his earliest, written around 1884) "The Black Mate." This copy is in the primary binding, with gilt lettering on the spine (some copies are lettered there in light green). The volume and dust jacket are fine except for the usual slight discoloration of the light blue jacket; the jacket is price-clipped, but every copy we have seen has been identically clipped, so we suspect it was done by the publisher. In our opinion the American edition is less common than the English one, especially in this condition. Supino A25.5.0 (this copy); Keating 194; Smith pp 96-98. Provenance: discreet bookplate of Conrad bibliographer David J. Supino (loosely inserted is a prior description of this copy, with his collation and notes in pencil).