The Rescue: A Romance of the Shallows

London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1920 First English edition, second issue (of the first issue, only 40 copies were printed and distributed privately; the text also differs slightly between these two issues and the American edition.) Publisher's green cloth, spine lettered in gilt, with Aldine House device blind-stamped to front board; in its original pictorial dust jacket with wraparound boating illustration, lettered in brown. Very good, with a touch of toning to head of spine, mild soiling to bottom edge of text block, bookseller's price slip affixed to front endpaper, and bottom corners of front free endpaper and half-title page creased; unclipped dust jacket, with light toning to spine, a tiny bit of soiling to front panel, a touch of rubbing to front panel and folds, light thumbsoiling to rear panel, creasing and small closed tears to head of spine, and a few small closed tears and some wear to edges. Overall, a solid copy, in its scarce original dust jacket. Wise 57. The Rescue tells the story of Captain Tom Lingard, who is waylaid by a stranded yacht while sailing to provide aid to the leader of a native tribe. When Lingard becomes romantically entangled with the wife of the yacht's owner, he is torn between duty and passion. The Rescue is the third book in what is sometimes called the Lingard Trilogy, as the main character is also featured in Conrad's books Almayer's Folly (1895) and An Outcast of the Islands (1896). Conrad started writing The Rescue in the late 1890s and then set the manuscript aside for twenty years before finally resuming work on it in 1918. The longstanding Sewanee Review wrote, "...The Rescue, we think, is Conrad at his best...it is fully worthy of his great gifts and his finely disciplined powers.". First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/Dust Jacket Included.