a personal record 1912 both documents and fictionalizes joseph conrads early life and the opening stages of his careers as a writer and as a seaman it is also an artistic and political manifesto the introduction traces conrads sources and gives the history of writing and reception the essay on the text and the apparatus set out the textual history the notes explain literary and historical references identify places and gloss foreign terms four maps and a genealogical table supplement this explanatory material this edition of a personal record established through modern textual scholarship presents conrads reminiscences and the volumes two prefaces in forms more authoritative than any so far printed