presentation copy from Joseph Conrad to his son

Presentation inscription reads 'To my dear boy Borys/ on his fifteenth (?) birthday/ 19 Jan. 1912.' Joseph Conrad was devoted to his son Borys, born 1898, and his younger sibling John, although he ended up being having a largely mediocre and unsuccessful career.

MacDonald wrote of his search for gold in the American Klondikes, Western Australia and New Guinea. The tale is one of largely failure and is emblematic of the Australian gold rushes of the time.

First edition, third impression; 8vo (20.5 x 14.5 cm); presentations inscription to first blank, 32 photographic plates including frontispiece, discreet bookplate to pastedown; publisher's pictorial cloth, gilt lettering to spine, a little rubbed, a very good copy; xviii,291, [5 (ads)] pp.