SOMERSET MAUGHAM FIRST EDITIONS AT
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London : William Heinemann, 1919. First edition : with the integral advertisements announcing Heinemann’s new novels for 1919. Renegade stockbroker turned artist in London, Paris and Tahiti – Maugham’s celebrated Gauguinesque tale.
Post 8vo (20cm). [iv],(264),[iv]pp. Bound in a handsome later (second half of the twentieth century) Hatchard’s binding of half tan morocco, banded and gilt; top edge gilt; olive labels; marbled endpapers; text somewhat tanned, as always, but otherwise a very good copy, attractively bound. With the striking bookplate of the late Jack Hodges (1924-2014), writer and book collector.

SOLD

New York : George H. Doran Co., (1925). First edition. Published a month earlier than the London edition and retaining a textual integrity which the British publication did not – two separate libel actions having necessitated changes in the names of characters in the latter, as well as the substitution of the fictional place-names of Tching-Yen, Pleasant Vale, and The Mount, for the real places of Hong Kong, Happy Valley, and The Peak. “Like many other of Mr. Maugham’s stories, the scene of his latest – and best – book is laid ‘East of Suez’. The theme, a loveless marriage and its disastrous aftermath, though old as the hills, is invested with modernity and freshness by means of a photographic realism” (Nottingham Journal, 21st May 1925). Filmed in 1934 (Greta Garbo), and in 2006 (Naomi Watts).
Crown 8vo (192 x 127mm). (290)pp. Bound in an attractive recent half red morocco, banded and gilt; a handful of minor marks and spots, but a very good copy.

£400

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London : William Heinemann, 1928. First edition. Clearly based on Maugham’s own experiences working for British Intelligence during World War I and very much the prototype of the modern espionage novel. It is alleged that Churchill himself urged Maugham to burn a number of further stories originally intended for the book. Turned into a TV series in 1991, with Alex Jennings, Joss Ackland, Ian Bannen, Jason Isaacs, etc.
Crown 8vo (185 x 120mm). [viii],304pp. Bound in a smart recent half blue morocco, banded and gilt; original cloth spine and upper cover preserved at rear; a few internal marks, tiny nicks and small flaws, but a good copy in an elegant binding.

SOLD