CONRAD, Joseph (1857-1924). The Mirror of the Sea, London, 1906, 8vo, original cloth. FIRST EDITION, IMPORTANT PRESENTATION COPY, inscribed on the front free endpaper, "To Miss Hallowes from her friend Joseph Conrad. 1906."

CONRAD, Joseph (1857-1924).  The Mirror of the Sea. Memories and Impressions. London: Methuen & Co., 1906. 8vo (190 x 130mm). Half title, publisher's advertisement on the verso of the half title, the title printed in red and black, 40-pages of publisher's advertisements at the end dated August 1906 (the half title with short clean tear at the foot without loss, some light staining, more pronounced to the leaves at the front and the end, occasional spotting). Original green cloth, the spine lettered and decorated in gilt, top edges gilt, others uncut (the gilding on the spine faded, lightly stained, inner hinges weak). Provenance: The Property of a Collector. FIRST EDITION of this collection of autobiographical essays. IMPORTANT PRESENTATION COPY, inscribed on the front free endpaper, "To Miss Lilian Hallowes from her friend Joseph Conrad. 1906." The recipient of this presentation copy, and the following three lots, was Lilian Mary Hallowes (1870-1950) who, despite being Joseph Conrad's literary assistant and amanuensis from 1904 to 1924, remains a somewhat elusive and shadowy figure. As Borys Conrad noted of her in his memoir of 1970, "little or no mention has been made in the biographies of my Father of the lady who, after several unsatisfactory candidates, eventually occupied that post." See David Miller's article, "Amanuensis: A Biographical Sketch of Lilian Mary Hallowes, 'Mr Conrad's Secretary'," in The Conradian, vol. 31, no. 1 (Spring 2006), pp.86-103, in which he states, "That lady, invariably referred to in Conrad's letters as Miss Hallowes, will always be an incomplete figure, somehow very Conradian in the manner in which she can, and indeed does, disappear from view for long periods." See also Knowle and Moore's Oxford Reader's Companion to Conrad (London, 2000, pp.147-148) for a brief account of Hallowes' relationship with Conrad. Cagle A11a; Keating 67: "The book is scarce in untrimmed [i.e. uncut] state, by far the greater part of the edition having been issued with trimmed edges"; Smith 12; Wise 16: "Regarding the book Mr Conrad has remarked :- 'I have a special feeling for these pages. Twenty best years of my life went to the making of them. As for the rest I approached the task in the spirit best expressed by the quotation on the title-page [i.e. '... for this miracle or this wonder/troubleth me right gretly', from Boethius]. The text of The Mirror of the Sea comprises forty-six Sections, numbered in Roman capitals, and grouped under fifteen titles. The majority of these sections had appeared previously in serial form ..."