Record Number: 33610

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'You may as well say, which is a truth, that I do read bi[o]graphy and memoirs. History has a fascination for me. Naval, military, political'. [The following was deleted by Conrad in proof]. 'For instance, favorite books of his are Wallace's "Malay Archipelago," Darwin's "Voyage of a Naturalist," Whymper's "High Andes", the sea yarns of Cooper and Marryat and the novels of Dickens.'

Century:

1850-1899, 1900-1945

Date:

unknown

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

n/a

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Joseph Conrad

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

3 Dec 1857

Socio-Economic Group:

Gentry
'Szlachta', or Polish landed gentry/nobility

Occupation:

Master mariner and author

Religion:

Roman Catholic

Country of Origin:

Poland

Country of Experience:

England

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Alfred Russel Wallace

Title:

The Malay Archipelago: The land of the orang-utan, and the bird of paradise. A narrative of travel, with studies of man and nature

Genre:

Geography / Travel, Science, Natural history

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

(London: Macmillan, 1890)

Provenance

owned

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Source Information:

Record ID:

33610

Source:

Print

Author:

Joseph Conrad

Editor:

Laurence Davies and J.H. Stape

Title:

The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad vol. 7 1920-1922

Place of Publication:

Cambridge

Date of Publication:

2005

Vol:

7

Page:

447

Additional Comments:

Letter from Conrad to Richard Curle, 5 April 1922, about proofs of Curle's proposed article 'Conrad at Home' for the Daily Mail, 7 April 1922.

Citation:

Joseph Conrad, Laurence Davies and J.H. Stape (ed.), The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad vol. 7 1920-1922, (Cambridge, 2005), 7, p. 447, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=33610, accessed: 24 April 2024

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Additional Comments:

Conrad’s copy of Wallace's book, the 1890 edition, bears an inscription to John Conrad by Richard Curle that it was Conrad’s ‘favourite bedside book’. He is known to have read this book repeatedly but never mentions it directly in his letters or elsewhere. See ID 28966 in which John Conrad recalls his father reading this book to him.