CONRAD'S MANIFESTO: PREFACE TO A CAREER.

Facsimiles of the manuscripts for "Narcissus" edited and with an essay by David R. Smith. Distinctive marbled paper boards, enclosed in the original textured heavy inner folder and matching slipcase, paper labels on volume and case. Frontispiece portrait by Leonard Baskin. Printed in red and black, with very wide margins, on elegant Fabriano paper. ◆In mint condition and IN THE ORIGINAL CARDBOARD PACKING CONTAINER.

This finely produced book examines the history and significance of Conrad's famous preface, which may be the best-known critical statement in English concerning modern fiction. About writing "The Nigger of Narcissus" and its preface, Conrad said, "After writing the last words of that book, . . . I understood that I had done with the sea, and that henceforth I had to be a writer. And almost without laying down the pen I wrote a preface, trying to express the spirit in which I was entering on the task of my new life." Both an emotional testimonial and a critical analysis, the preface "was the first (and remains the major) expression of [Conrad's] critical theories and his belief in his art." Smith presents a careful bibliography of the various forms of the preface, and he writes a perceptive 30-page commentary on the document's importance. Leonard Baskin (1922-2000) was a sculptor, book-illustrator, wood-engraver, printmaker, graphic artist, writer, and teacher. He founded the Gehenna Press in 1942 while still a student at Yale (the name coming from a line in Milton's "Paradise Lost": "And black Gehenna call'd, the type of Hell"). The press has published more than 100 fine books and certainly must be considered one of the most successful private presses ever, given its longevity, its consistently high aesthetic achievement, and the unusual size of its output.