The Nigger of the "Narcissus." Preface

[Privately printed, 1902. First edition, one of 100 copies printed. Original self-wrappers, small rust mark from removed staple, otherwise fine. According to Wise approximately forty copies were accidentally destroyed. Conrad's "Preface," his most important artistic statement, originally appeared as "The Art of Fiction" in the December 1897 of the New Review, at the end of the novel's serialization, and was much revised for this first separate printing. Cagle A3f; Wise 12.