The Unrecognized Second Edition of
Conrad's Under Western Eyes
by
David Leon Higdon
First editions enjoy a mystique in later years as copies become
increasingly scarce, and collected editions proclaim a certain sumptuousness
and finality; however, the workaday inexpensive editions often reveal more
about a work's reputation, audience, and publication history than either of
the former. Most collectors, for example, would rather have a
cerise-embossed, gold-lettered copy of the English first edition of
Under Western Eyes however faded, the rarest edition of any
Conrad novel,[1] than a second
edition, even though the latter involves a more revealing story of melted
plates, misnamed impressions, and rising sales. Jocelyn Baines pointed out
that Chance, the novel which marked the turning-point in
Conrad's finances and popularity, unexpectedly sold 13,200 copies in
England during the two years following its publication, compared with only
4,112 of Under Western Eyes— a superior novel in
every
way—during a
comparable period.[2] Had the
Methuen records and ledgers been fully available in the early 1960s, Baines
could further have added that the popularity of Chance,
Victory, and The Shadow-Line, whose first
edition
of 5,000 copies sold out in four days,[3] spurred on a 15,000 copy second
edition
of Under Western Eyes, the "Cheap Edition" published in
1917
by Methuen. The Cheap Edition has a particular significance because of
what it did to Conrad's text and because it has heretofore been described
as a reprint rather than a true second edition. It and its relationship to the
first edition also offer a clear example of the corruption of a text and the
necessity of distinguishing most carefully between editions and
impressions.
The first edition of 5 October 1911 consisted of 3,000 copies, 2,250
for domestic sale and 750 for the colonial market, differing from the
domestic
only by being bound in green cloth or paper wrappers rather than the cerise
boards of the domestic copies.
[4] A
second impression (Methuen calls all the impressions "editions"
[5]) of 1,500 (1,000 domestic and 500
colonial) was ordered 20 September 1911, but, since one inspected copy
includes a Methuen autumn catalogue dated September 1913, copies were
obviously bound as the market required.
[6] With only 4,112 copies sold
between
October 1911 and the end of 1913, Methuen had 388 copies left to carry
sales through early 1915, an indication of Conrad's lack of drawing power
at this time. The stock ledgers show that 100 copies were bound 15
November 1913, 100 more 7 April 1914, and 11 28 May 1915, so that the
supply was virtually exhausted before Methuen took delivery of 1,013
copies of the third impression 11 June 1915. In a letter of 2 November
1911 to J. B. Pinker, Conrad mentions having seen
advertisements of the "3rd ed" (that is, the third impression of the first
edition), but the only copy located to date carries the date 1915 and
includes an advertising catalogue dated 8 May 1915.
[7]
The Methuen ledgers contain the notations "M Dec 2/11", "S May
17/15" and "M destroyed 12/2/16", apparently referring to the creating of
moulds, the stereotyping of plates, and the destroying of moulds 12
February 1916.[8] Before hurrying to
the conclusion that the destruction of the moulds may also have involved the
destruction of the plates of the first edition, thus necessitating the new
edition ordered in May 1917, one must recognize that the "Sixth Edition"
of April 1920 and the "Fourteenth Edition" of 1929 are actually the fourth
and probably the firth impressions of the first edition plates. It is also
probable that the "Tenth," "Thirteenth," and "Fifteenth" editions are later
impressions as well, particularly since the ledgers carry
the notation "M&G" at the head of the entries for the "Fifteenth
Edition," thus indicating that it was printed by Morrison and Gibbs, the
printers of the first edition and its other impressions.
Under Western Eyes was not the breakthrough to a
larger
audience that Chance was soon to become because of the
popular audience's mood. E.D.Y., an unidentified reader, inscribed in his
copy, the following:
Of course a powerful book. Also a cruel book. Turgenev? Certainly
not. Dostoievski. The Dostoievski of Crime et Chastisment.
On the whole I regret I read this book. Life is too short to read such
books. It is not instructive; it is not elevating—rather the
reverse—;
and it is not beautiful enough.
I hope Conrad will now leave the uninteresting Russian conspirators,
once and for all, and come back to the true source of his inspiration: the
Wide Sea.[9]
True, Under Western Eyes' pessimism and corrosive ironies,
its maimed and deafened protagonist, would not have struck many readers
during the Edwardian summer as being either "instructive" or "beautiful"
and certainly not "elevating." The severe judgment of E.D.Y. apparently
comes from a faithful reader of Conrad who most certainly had read
The Secret Agent ("will now leave the uninteresting Russian
conspirators, once and for all"), possibly The Nigger
of
the "Narcissus", Lord Jim, certain short stories such
as
"Youth", and, conjecturally, even The Mirror of the
Sea.
The popular mood and Conrad's reputation had changed by the time
of the Cheap Edition of 1917. In March, Methuen proposed an autumn
shilling edition, and, on 3 July, Methuen wrote Pinker: "We presume that
the author will not require to see proofs of the cheap edition of "UNDER
WESTERN EYES". [¶] In dealing with Mr. Conrad's previous volumes
in our cheap series, the printers have read the books for press and taken
responsibility for the accuracy of the setting."[10]
The Cheap Edition condensed the front matter and text of the novel
from a total of 382 pages and 24 signatures to 320 pages and 10 signatures,
a savings of 62 pages, and shrunk the thirty-five line, 187x124 mm. page
to a forty-line, 170x116 mm. page. The format changes were due, in part,
to wartime paper shortages and undoubtably reflected a desire to reduce
production costs as well. October 1917 brought the true second edition,
called the "Fourth Edition," in a printing of 15,000 copies; yet another
5,000 copies were called for in 1920. In 1922, Methuen changed the paper
size and format from foolscap octavo to crown octavo and the binding from
maroon cloth to green cloth for the third, fourth, and fifth impressions of
the second edition, calling
them the "Sixth," "Seventh," and "Eighth" Cheaper Editions, before
returning to foolscap octavo for the sixth impression ("Ninth Edition").
Other impressions followed in August 1926, December 1926, July 1943,
March 1946, 1948, and possibly in January 1925 and February 1929.
Because no copies or descriptions of the latter two impressions have been
located, it remains uncertain whether they belong to the first edition or the
second edition line of descent. A complete listing of impressions follows:
Methuen Editions and Impressions of Under Western
Eyes.[11]
I. First Edition |
|
Name |
Ordered |
Delivered |
Date Published |
1. First impression |
1st |
3,000 |
3,001 |
5 October 1911 |
2. Second impression |
2nd |
1,500 |
1,506 |
October 1911 |
3. Third impression |
3rd |
1,000 |
1,013 |
July 1915 |
4. Fourth impression |
6th[*]
|
1,000 |
n.a. |
1920 |
5. Fifth impression |
14th[**]
|
n.a. |
n.a. |
1929 |
6. Sixth impression |
15th |
1,000 |
1,008 |
November 1929 |
II. Second Edition |
1. First impression |
4th |
15,000 |
15,010 |
18 October 1917 |
2. Second impression |
5th |
5,000 |
4,888 |
April 1920 |
3. Third impression |
6th[*]
|
1,000 |
n.a. |
12 October 1922 |
4. Fourth impression |
7th |
n.a. |
n.a. |
February 1923 |
5. Fifth impression |
8th |
5,000 |
5,047 |
May 1924[***]
|
6. Sixth impression |
9th |
n.a. |
n.a. |
September 1924 |
7. Seventh impression |
11th |
3,000 |
3,097 |
August 1926 |
8. Eighth impression |
12th |
2,637 |
2,096 |
December 1926 |
9. Ninth impression |
16th |
2,500 |
2,525 |
July 1943 |
10. Tenth impression |
17th |
2,000 |
2,000 |
March 1946 |
11. Eleventh impression |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
1948 |
III. Impressions Not Yet Identified |
1. "Tenth Edition" |
|
|
|
January 1925 |
2. "Thirteenth Edition" |
|
|
|
February 1929 |
The Cheap Edition of 1917, printed by Butler and Tanner, was the
edition in which Under Western Eyes reached a fairly large
audience, and, because the edition was most carelessly proofed, it
perniciously subverts the text
in a number of ways. The second edition differs from the first in 255
instances (53 substantives and 202 accidentals).
[12] One need only glance at some of
the
typographical errors to wonder how the reader kept the identities of
Razumov and Ivanovitch straight since they appear variously as
"Rauzumov" (140.15), "Ruzamov" (159.28), and "Ivanovich" (180.33,
234.33), and such peculiar words as "busk" (16.27), "hrown" (16.28),
"Geneal" (63.3), "Russiar" (184.40), "retierd" (185.17), "peopls" (186.30),
and "Prnice" (260.16) appear where "dusk," "brown," "General,"
"Russian," "retired," "people," and "Prince" should be. Admittedly, the
edition does correct "preresent" (53.18 to "represent"), as well as the two
errors, mentioned earlier; however, many of its errors perversely "make
sense" and often reverse Conrad's intended meaning.
Though it is fairly evident to a reader that "you presence" (78.35),
"colouring slight" (91.1), "her fate husband" (138.34), and "for five
minutes of more" (286.27) are misprints for "your presence," "colouring
slightly," "her late husband," and "for five minutes or more," one must
always approach assumed misprints with caution. Since 1938, readers of
Graham Greene's Brighton Rock have probably been silently
"correcting" the detective's remark "'You're a wide boy'" to "'You're a
wise boy'" without realizing that "wide" is underworld slang for "those who
live by their wits, especially gamblers, petty swindlers, race-gangsters, the
lesser 'con men', dishonest motor-car salesmen, and the like."[13] Equally troubling and ambiguous
are those
misprints which silently distort what the author wrote. For example,
describing the attitude, stride, and demeanor of the red-nosed student,
Conrad wrote "He stalked deliberately at Razumov's elbow" (M70.16), but
in the Cheap Edition, he "talked deliberately" (64.31). In the first edition,
Natalia Haldin tells the narrator of her troubles with her mother, concluding
"'I am more uneasy than ever'" (M174.31); the Cheap Edition has her
saying she is "more easy than ever" (151.15)—exactly the reverse.
Similarly, the Cheap Edition prints "Miss" (268.11) instead of "Mrs."
(M313.31)—a seemingly minor error, but one which assigns a
significant
evaluation by the narrator to the wrong character—and "foreseen"
(287.7)
for "unforeseen" (M337.6), making the perceived connection between
Natalia and her brother rather puzzling. Elsewhere, the Cheap Edition
prints "put new heart in the man" (108.28-29), "the loss" (268.32), and
"sceptical ghost" (305.23) instead of "put heart in the new man"
(M122.32-33),
"the cost" (M314.19), and "sceptical guest" (M359.21). The first greatly
weakens the image of Peter Ivanovitch's transformation from a near beast
back into a "new man." The second ruins the metaphor of being wounded
and counting "the cost," and the third momentarily seems to further the
imagery of the supernatural which permeates the novel; however, Razumov
is an all too physical guest.
The Cheap Edition also omits a number of words and phrases,
probably due to compositors' eyeskips. For example, "inspiration. It is a
great privilege to have the inspiration and the opportunity" (M154.25-26)
becomes "inspiration and the opportunity" (134.28-29), and "almost of the
disciple of" (M159.1) becomes "almost of" (138.22). Sometimes, words
such as "tawny" in "naked tawny figure" (M120.14/106.24) simply
disappear from the text.
When one turns to the accidental variants, one finds much the same
story: 79 of the 202 variants are simple setting errors such as misspellings,
use of a comma instead of a period, omission of closing punctuation,
whereas others involve regularization of -ize words (4 times)
and any one (15 times), preference of variant spellings (8
times), addition of commas (5 times), and deletion of commas (38 times),
even though the text does correct twelve printing errors from the first
edition.
On 2 January 1942, Methuen melted down the stereotyped plates,
probably of the first edition, though there is a possibility that the second
edition plates were also melted down as part of the war effort, and on 4
March 1943, the blocks were destroyed.[14] Moulds surely had been made or
"mother
plates" retained, because there were later impressions ordered 7 July 1943,
6 March 1946, and sometime in 1948.
Thus, during the thirty or so years following the publication of
Under Western Eyes, Conrad's readers had their choice of
any
of four editions of the novel in Great Britain: the Methuen first, the
Methuen second, the Heinemann Collected, or the Dent which was printed
from plates of the American Sun-Dial Edition. Conrad met these readers,
moreover, not in the precisely cut style and neatly punctuated sentences he
wished, but in a rather tattered, shop-worn cheap text. It was cheap, and it
often looked it. Had publication rights not finally passed to J. M. Dent, the
text of the second edition might still be on sale in its various guises.
Notes