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The Secret Agent: A Drama in Three Acts [Signed limited]
by Conrad, Joseph
- Used
- Signed
- Condition
- Very good with spine darkened, some spotting to binding. Original Japanese vellum backed sage green boards, paper spine label, e
- Seller
-
Haddonfield, New Jersey, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London: Privately Printed for Subscribers only by T. Werner Laurie, 1923. Very good with spine darkened, some spotting to binding. Original Japanese vellum backed sage green boards, paper spine label, edges untrimmed, mostly unopened.. Signed by Conrad on the limitation page. Limited edition, this being number 581 of 1000 copies.
8vo. [vi], 185pp.; with frontispiece portrait from photograph. Cagle A54b.
8vo. [vi], 185pp.; with frontispiece portrait from photograph. Cagle A54b.
Synopsis
The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale is one of Joseph Conrad’s later novels. Set in London in 1886, the novel tells the story of Adolf Verloc, a member of a largely ineffectual anarchist group who is also a secret agent, and an operation with unforeseen consequences. In his Author’s Note written in 1920, Conrad explains that the plot of the novel was inspired by the Greenwich Bomb Outrage of February 1894. In this event, explosives prematurely detonated in the hands of French anarchist named Martial Bourdin on the grounds of the Greenwich Observatory. What fascinated Conrad the most about the Greenwich Bomb Outrage was the fact that the motives remained a mystery. Through themes of espionage, anarchism, and terrorism based on horrific, but true events, The Secret Agent questions the world's capacity for reason and order in a smart, yet skeptical way. Perhaps this explains why the novel is said to be one of the three most talked-about works of literature in the media immediately after 9/11. The Secret Agent did not sell well initially, but is now considered a classic. The novel is ranked 46th on Modern Library’s “100 Best” English-language novels of the 20th century. The Secret Agent has undergone multiple adaptations for both the stage and the screen. Perhaps most notable is Alfred Hitchcock's 1936 film, Sabotage, loosely based on the novel, though many changes to the plot and characters were made. (Not to be confused with another 1936 Hitchcock film, Secret Agent, based on short stories by W. Somerset Maugham.) Fun fact: The Secret Agent is said to have greatly influenced Theodore Kaczynski, better known as the Unabomber. Kaczynski, who engaged in a nationwide bombing campaign in the US between 1978 and 1995, strongly identified with the Professor, the villain of the novel.
Read More: Identifying first editions of The Secret Agent: A Drama in Three Acts [Signed limited]
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Details
- Bookseller
- Nelson Rare Books, ABAA/ILAB
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 105
- Title
- The Secret Agent: A Drama in Three Acts [Signed limited]
- Author
- Conrad, Joseph
- Book Condition
- Used - Very good with spine darkened, some spotting to binding. Original Japanese vellum backed sage green boards, paper spine label, e
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Publisher
- Privately Printed for Subscribers only by T. Werner Laurie
- Place of Publication
- London
- Date Published
- 1923
Terms of Sale
Nelson Rare Books, ABAA/ILAB
Nelson Rare Books is a New Jersey-registered trade/fictitious name for DUGN, LLC, a New Jersey limited liability company, with a mailing address at P.O. Box 571, Haddonfield, New Jersey 08033 (DUGN, LLC and Nelson Rare Books collectively referred to herein as "we", "us", or "our").
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About the Seller
Nelson Rare Books, ABAA/ILAB
Biblio member since 2012
Haddonfield, New Jersey
About Nelson Rare Books, ABAA/ILAB
Bookseller of 18th and 19th century British and American literature, Gothic Revival, architecture, street literature, chapbooks, private press books, focusing on the unpopular, the obscure, and the forgotten. We also handle commonplace books, friendship albums, scrap books and manuscripts.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Unopened
- A state in which all or some of the pages of a book have not been separated from the adjacent pages, caused by a traditional...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Spine Label
- The paper or leather descriptive tag attached to the spine of the book, most commonly providing the title and author of the...
- Vellum
- Vellum is a sheet of specialty prepared skin of lamb, calf, or goat kid used for binding a book or for printing and writing. ...
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
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