The Dover Patrol

Canterbury: Printed for Private Circulation by H.J. Goulden, Ltd, 1922. First edition, one of 75 copies, this copy is in the earlier state without the half title and title. 14 pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Original pale blue wrappers, stapled. Edges slightly faded, otherwise about fine. In red calf-backed case. First edition, one of 75 copies, this copy is in the earlier state without the half title and title. 14 pp. 1 vols. 8vo. The Dover Patrol provided safe passage to the Continent for British troops in World War One, and protected and regulated Channel traffic during the war. Though "no figure of rhetoric can render justice to the quiet resolution of men making (truncated) up for the inadequacy of [their] means," Conrad pays them a handsome tribute. This essay, written at the request of Lord Northcliffe, originally appeared in the The Times, July 27, 1921, and was later included in Later Essays.
This is one of the most difficult items in the Conrad canon, nearly sixty copies (eighty percent of the edition) are held in universities. A title-page was added to the second printing to please Conrad. Cagle A56a; Keating 221 (Inventory #: 303662)