Joseph Conrad as I Knew Him

'All future biographers of Conrad must turn to this book', claims the introduction to this 1926 memoir by the novelist's wife, Jessie (nee George, 1873-1936).

Joseph Conrad (born Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski in 1857) was the son of Polish patriots who died in exile.

After a loving upbringing in his uncle's family, he determined to go to sea, and made a career in merchant ships, sailing all over the world, until in 1894, with the aid of a legacy from his uncle, he attempted to make a full-time career of writing in English, his third language (after Polish and French).

Conrad married Jessie (then aged 22) in 1896, and this touching and intimate 1926 book, after an initial chapter describing his character (as illustrated by sometimes extraordinary anecdotes), describes the subsequent 28 years of their marriage, from their early married life in France to Conrad's death in 1924.