Record Number: 29018

---

Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'The writer [Ford Madox Ford] never saw Conrad read any book of memoirs except those of Maxime Ducamp and the Correspondence of Flaubert; those we read daily together over a space of years. But somewhere in the past Conrad had read every imaginable and unimaginable volume of politician's memoirs, Mme de Campan, the Duc d'Audiffret Pasquier, Benjamin Constant, Karoline Bauer, Sir Horace Rumbold, Napoleon the Great, Napoleon III, Benjamin Franklin, Assheton Smith, Pitt, Chatham, Palmerston, Parnell,The late Queen Victoria, Dilke, Morley [...] There was no memoir of all these that he had missed or forgotten—down to "Il Principe" or the letters of Thomas Cromwell. He could sugddenly produce an incident from the life of Lord Shaftesbury and work it into "Nostromo" [...].'

Century:

1850-1899, 1900-1945

Date:

Between 1898 and 1909

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

city: various
county: Kent
specific address: various

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

---

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

Ford Madox Ford

Additional Comments:

n/a

---

Text Being Read:

Author:

Gustave Flaubert

Title:

Correspondences

Genre:

Autobiog / Diary

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

first published 4 vols Charpentier 1887-1893 supervised by Flaubert's niece Caroline Commanville

Provenance

unknown
probably owned, to be checked against catalogues of Conrad's personal library.

---

Source Information:

Record ID:

29018

Source:

Print

Author:

Ford Madox Ford (Hueffer)

Editor:

n/a

Title:

Joseph Conrad: A Personal Remembrance

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1924

Vol:

n/a

Page:

59

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Ford Madox Ford (Hueffer), Joseph Conrad: A Personal Remembrance, (London, 1924), p. 59, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=29018, accessed: 09 May 2025

---

Additional Comments:

Whether the two men read the newly published collected letters of Flaubert, or whether Ford was in fact referring to other volumes of letters between Flaubert and writers such as George Sand is unclear. An amendment will be sent if more information comes to light.