'It is important that Norman Sherry's admirable and self-effacing research should not be put on one side as a curious bit of detective work. At the very least it is a unique and indispensable contribution to Conrad biography (there are some fine photographs). But it is more. Indirectly it is major testimony to the greatness and profundity of Conrad's imagination.' Tony Tanner, The Spectator

• List of illustrations; Acknowledgements; 1. Introduction: The conditions of Conrad's active life; 2. Biography: The Eastern seas; Part 1. 'Lord Jim': 3. That scandal of the Eastern seas; 4. The flesh and blood individual; Part II. 'Lord Jim', 'Almayer's Folly', ' An Outcast of the Islands': 5. The Rajah Laut; 6. An Eastern River; 7. Undoubted sources: dull, wise books; Part III. 'The End of the Tether': 8. An Eastern port: Singapore; 9. The Deputy Neptune and the Arab shipowner; Part IV. 'The Shadow-Line': Exact Autobiography: 10. First command; 11. Conrad's predecessor on the Otago; 12. The delay in Bangkok; 13. The Gulf of Siam; Part V. Conclusion: The Work of the Imagination: 14. 'The Secret Sharer': The basic fact of the tale; 15. Justice to the visible universe; Appendices; References; Index.

'It is important that Norman Sherry's admirable and self-effacing research should not be put on one side as a curious bit of detective work. At the very least it is a unique and indispensable contribution to Conrad biography (there are some fine photographs). But it is more. Indirectly it is major testimony to the greatness and profundity of Conrad's imagination.' Tony Tanner, The Spectator

• List of illustrations; Acknowledgements; 1. Introduction: The conditions of Conrad's active life; 2. Biography: The Eastern seas; Part 1. 'Lord Jim': 3. That scandal of the Eastern seas; 4. The flesh and blood individual; Part II. 'Lord Jim', 'Almayer's Folly', ' An Outcast of the Islands': 5. The Rajah Laut; 6. An Eastern River; 7. Undoubted sources: dull, wise books; Part III. 'The End of the Tether': 8. An Eastern port: Singapore; 9. The Deputy Neptune and the Arab shipowner; Part IV. 'The Shadow-Line': Exact Autobiography: 10. First command; 11. Conrad's predecessor on the Otago; 12. The delay in Bangkok; 13. The Gulf of Siam; Part V. Conclusion: The Work of the Imagination: 14. 'The Secret Sharer': The basic fact of the tale; 15. Justice to the visible universe; Appendices; References; Index.