![CONRAD, Joseph (1857-1924). Autograph manuscript of the unfinished novel "The Sisters," containing some 5,000 words, comprising the beginning of a novel started after The Outcast of the Islands (1896) and dropped when Conrad began work on The Nigger of the Narcissus (1898); a working manuscript with extensive revisions, deletions and interlinear additions throughout, and with a number of pencil notes in the margins by Edward Garnett, (1868-1937) Conrad's friend and encourager, suggesting revisions and critiquing the narrative. [London, 1896-1897]. 39 pages, small folio, written in dark ink on rectos only of sheets of lined paper, three sections (pp.1-10, 11-20, 21-30) gathered with a brass pin at top left-hand corner, pp. 31-39 ungathered. A small strip of lined paper with 8 lines added text affixed to bottom of page 1 by Conrad, light soiling to margins of several pages, a few ink smudges, but generally in excellent condition. Enclosed in a cloth chemise and brown morocco pu](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2001/NYR/2001_NYR_09806_0209_000(034558).jpg?w=1)
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CONRAD, Joseph (1857-1924). Autograph manuscript of the unfinished novel "The Sisters," containing some 5,000 words, comprising the beginning of a novel started after The Outcast of the Islands (1896) and dropped when Conrad began work on The Nigger of the Narcissus (1898); a working manuscript with extensive revisions, deletions and interlinear additions throughout, and with a number of pencil notes in the margins by Edward Garnett, (1868-1937) Conrad's friend and encourager, suggesting revisions and critiquing the narrative. [London, 1896-1897]. 39 pages, small folio, written in dark ink on rectos only of sheets of lined paper, three sections (pp.1-10, 11-20, 21-30) gathered with a brass pin at top left-hand corner, pp. 31-39 ungathered. A small strip of lined paper with 8 lines added text affixed to bottom of page 1 by Conrad, light soiling to margins of several pages, a few ink smudges, but generally in excellent condition. Enclosed in a cloth chemise and brown morocco pull-off case.
[With:] ROTHENSTEIN, William. Lithographic portrait of Joseph Conrad, 1903, INSCRIBED BY CONRAD: "With friendly regards from J.C. Nov. 1911." 9¾ x 7¾ in., on green tinted paper; framed.
THE QUINN MANUSCRIPT OF CONRAD'S "THE SISTERS": "A NOVEL ABOUT A PAINTER [THAT] SHOULD HAVE BEEN MY THIRD NOVEL. I GAVE IT UP AND THE NIGGER CAME INSTEAD"
A working draft of the beginning of an extensively revised unfinished novel, never studied in detail, which may yield important insights into Conrad's writing methods at this crucial phase in his development as a writer. VIRTUALLY NO AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPTS OF CONRAD REMAIN IN PRIVATE HANDS TODAY. Some critics have noted a connection between Stephen Crane's Red Badge of Courage, which Conrad read at about this date, and "The Sisters," as well as the later Lord Jim. Conrad's protagonist is a European fin-de-siecle aesthete, a painter named Stephen who had "set off on his search for a creed - and found only an infinity of formulas." Estranged from his family in Russia, possessed of ample means but insecure about his humble origins, Stephen wanders Europe, "trying to read a meaning into all the forms of beauty that solicited his admiration...The prodigies of chisel and brush transported him at first with the hope of a persuasion, of an unveiled religion of art--and then plunged him into despair by refusing to say the last word." In Conrad's conception, Stephen "believed that in the world of art, amongst so many forms of created beauty there could be found the secret of genius. All those brains that had produced so many masterpieces had left amongst them, hidden from the crowd but visible to the elect, the expression of their creed: the one, the final, the appeasing. He looked for it. He looked for the magic sign" Disillusioned by the "heartless serenity of perfection" he finds in art and seeking a retreat, he establishes himself in a pavilion at Passy, near Paris. The building is owned by a Spanish family, the Ortegas. The story soon focuses on the vicissitudes of the Ortegas orphaned nieces, Rita and Theresa, the latter being raised by a poor priest, the other living with a well-to-do family in Paris.
Conrad wrote to Quinn on 5 September 1923 regarding the manuscript, explaining that "it is a true fragment, the beginning of a novel I started to write directly I had finished the Outcast and abandoned in despair at being unable to keep up the high pitch. No human eye but that of Edward Garnett and of my wife had ever seen it. The pencil notes in the margin are by Garnett who at that time used to see all of my work before even it went to be typed. This of course has not even been typed. It should have been my third novel. I gave it up - and the Nigger [of the Narcissus] came instead. And it is a novel which should have been about a painter...Have it typed and read it. It is rather curious. That's, my dear Quinn, how I could write eighteen years ago."
Then, seventeen years later, Conrad ponders his motives for abandoning the project: "I think it would have been an impossible novel for the public - at the time. I wonder whether I would have done it if I had not got scared off it thinking it out ahead, one winter evening, alone in my lodgings, a fortnight or so before we were married."
Each of the three gatherings is headed by Conrad at the top of the first page "Part First" or "Part I," perhaps indicating that he had already planned the formal structure of the novel. The small slip with additional text attached to page 1 carries, on its verso, a similar heading, probably indicating that this manuscript was preceded by an earlier draft. Most though not all of the material deleted by Conrad may be easily read, especially the lengthy passages, which are less carefully crossed through. It is clear that Conrad reworked the manuscript at least twice, since in some deleted passages earlier deletions and interlinear additions may be seen (as at the bottom of page 32). Garnett's pencil notes, appearing on virtually every page, are of considerable interest, documenting his close role in the revision of Conrad's early fiction. These range from the simple observations "Good!," "Very good," and "Most excellent" to more searching criticisms. On page 14 he advises: "Describe Stephen again, his face, expression psychologically to give reality": and on page 17 suggests: "do this more delicately - let us see him through their eyes." At the head of the first page Garnett suggests a new beginning for the novel: "Begin by a vivid description of the man himself, seated in the pavilion at Passy. To give what follows its horizon of the past, & sharp value."
Quinn, a legendary Irish American collector of modern painting and contemporary authors, had arranged at an early date to purchase from Conrad his manuscripts as they were completed and published, thereby building a remarkably extensive collection of the author's manuscripts while significantly lessening Conrad's financial difficulties, especially in the early years of their arrangement. It is clear from copies of correspondence which accompany the manuscript that Conrad had presented the actual copyright in the work to his friend and benefactor. In the same 1913 letter cited above, Conrad stated: "The paper wrapped around the roll conveys to you the copyright informally enough, but sufficiently to satisfy my executors who are John Galsworthy and my wife. I imagine there might be one or two magazine editors who would be eager enough - when I am gone-to publish these few pages as a literary curiosity, and the blessed critics will babble about it. But you mustn't let this be printed till I am gone" Quinn kept his promise, and although the auction of his famous library, to be held by Anderson Galleries, was already in preparation, he wrote to Mitchell Kennerly in September 1923, asking that the manuscript be withdrawn from the sale, in deference to Conrad's wishes.
The fragment was only published after Quinn's and Conrad's death, as the featured story in The Bookman, edited by Burton Rascoe (vol. lxvi, no.5, January 1928), with an interesting commentary by Ford Madox Ford. (A copy of the magazine accompanies the lot). "The Sisters" was republished separately the same year in a limited edition from the private press of the collector Crosby Gaige and is collected in The Complete Short Fiction of Joseph Conrad, ed. Samuel Hynes, vol.2, 1993.
PROVENANCE:
Joseph Conrad; John Quinn, acquired in 1913 - By descent to the present owner.
[With:] ROTHENSTEIN, William. Lithographic portrait of Joseph Conrad, 1903, INSCRIBED BY CONRAD: "With friendly regards from J.C. Nov. 1911." 9¾ x 7¾ in., on green tinted paper; framed.
THE QUINN MANUSCRIPT OF CONRAD'S "THE SISTERS": "A NOVEL ABOUT A PAINTER [THAT] SHOULD HAVE BEEN MY THIRD NOVEL. I GAVE IT UP AND THE NIGGER CAME INSTEAD"
A working draft of the beginning of an extensively revised unfinished novel, never studied in detail, which may yield important insights into Conrad's writing methods at this crucial phase in his development as a writer. VIRTUALLY NO AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPTS OF CONRAD REMAIN IN PRIVATE HANDS TODAY. Some critics have noted a connection between Stephen Crane's Red Badge of Courage, which Conrad read at about this date, and "The Sisters," as well as the later Lord Jim. Conrad's protagonist is a European fin-de-siecle aesthete, a painter named Stephen who had "set off on his search for a creed - and found only an infinity of formulas." Estranged from his family in Russia, possessed of ample means but insecure about his humble origins, Stephen wanders Europe, "trying to read a meaning into all the forms of beauty that solicited his admiration...The prodigies of chisel and brush transported him at first with the hope of a persuasion, of an unveiled religion of art--and then plunged him into despair by refusing to say the last word." In Conrad's conception, Stephen "believed that in the world of art, amongst so many forms of created beauty there could be found the secret of genius. All those brains that had produced so many masterpieces had left amongst them, hidden from the crowd but visible to the elect, the expression of their creed: the one, the final, the appeasing. He looked for it. He looked for the magic sign" Disillusioned by the "heartless serenity of perfection" he finds in art and seeking a retreat, he establishes himself in a pavilion at Passy, near Paris. The building is owned by a Spanish family, the Ortegas. The story soon focuses on the vicissitudes of the Ortegas orphaned nieces, Rita and Theresa, the latter being raised by a poor priest, the other living with a well-to-do family in Paris.
Conrad wrote to Quinn on 5 September 1923 regarding the manuscript, explaining that "it is a true fragment, the beginning of a novel I started to write directly I had finished the Outcast and abandoned in despair at being unable to keep up the high pitch. No human eye but that of Edward Garnett and of my wife had ever seen it. The pencil notes in the margin are by Garnett who at that time used to see all of my work before even it went to be typed. This of course has not even been typed. It should have been my third novel. I gave it up - and the Nigger [of the Narcissus] came instead. And it is a novel which should have been about a painter...Have it typed and read it. It is rather curious. That's, my dear Quinn, how I could write eighteen years ago."
Then, seventeen years later, Conrad ponders his motives for abandoning the project: "I think it would have been an impossible novel for the public - at the time. I wonder whether I would have done it if I had not got scared off it thinking it out ahead, one winter evening, alone in my lodgings, a fortnight or so before we were married."
Each of the three gatherings is headed by Conrad at the top of the first page "Part First" or "Part I," perhaps indicating that he had already planned the formal structure of the novel. The small slip with additional text attached to page 1 carries, on its verso, a similar heading, probably indicating that this manuscript was preceded by an earlier draft. Most though not all of the material deleted by Conrad may be easily read, especially the lengthy passages, which are less carefully crossed through. It is clear that Conrad reworked the manuscript at least twice, since in some deleted passages earlier deletions and interlinear additions may be seen (as at the bottom of page 32). Garnett's pencil notes, appearing on virtually every page, are of considerable interest, documenting his close role in the revision of Conrad's early fiction. These range from the simple observations "Good!," "Very good," and "Most excellent" to more searching criticisms. On page 14 he advises: "Describe Stephen again, his face, expression psychologically to give reality": and on page 17 suggests: "do this more delicately - let us see him through their eyes." At the head of the first page Garnett suggests a new beginning for the novel: "Begin by a vivid description of the man himself, seated in the pavilion at Passy. To give what follows its horizon of the past, & sharp value."
Quinn, a legendary Irish American collector of modern painting and contemporary authors, had arranged at an early date to purchase from Conrad his manuscripts as they were completed and published, thereby building a remarkably extensive collection of the author's manuscripts while significantly lessening Conrad's financial difficulties, especially in the early years of their arrangement. It is clear from copies of correspondence which accompany the manuscript that Conrad had presented the actual copyright in the work to his friend and benefactor. In the same 1913 letter cited above, Conrad stated: "The paper wrapped around the roll conveys to you the copyright informally enough, but sufficiently to satisfy my executors who are John Galsworthy and my wife. I imagine there might be one or two magazine editors who would be eager enough - when I am gone-to publish these few pages as a literary curiosity, and the blessed critics will babble about it. But you mustn't let this be printed till I am gone" Quinn kept his promise, and although the auction of his famous library, to be held by Anderson Galleries, was already in preparation, he wrote to Mitchell Kennerly in September 1923, asking that the manuscript be withdrawn from the sale, in deference to Conrad's wishes.
The fragment was only published after Quinn's and Conrad's death, as the featured story in The Bookman, edited by Burton Rascoe (vol. lxvi, no.5, January 1928), with an interesting commentary by Ford Madox Ford. (A copy of the magazine accompanies the lot). "The Sisters" was republished separately the same year in a limited edition from the private press of the collector Crosby Gaige and is collected in The Complete Short Fiction of Joseph Conrad, ed. Samuel Hynes, vol.2, 1993.
PROVENANCE:
Joseph Conrad; John Quinn, acquired in 1913 - By descent to the present owner.