My Maugham Collection

Christabel, Lady Aberconway - W. Somerset Maugham's Correspondent

This post is about a friend of W. Somerset Maugham, if one can call her that. Christabel, Lady Aberconway exchanged letters with Maugham for a period of over 30 years. A relationship that perhaps waned after the publication of "Looking Back," which left a number of our author's friends and acquaintances indignant. Among the signatures of those who signed a letter to vindicate Syrie Maugham's good name is Christabel Lady Aberconway.

Whatever the argument was, whether one sid…

Fifty Works of English Literature We Could Do Without - Brigid Brophy et. al.

Brophy, Brigid, Michael Levey and Charles Osborne. Fifty Works of English Literature We Could Do Without. New York: Stein and Day, 1968.
I was very curious about this book, which was quoted by the reference book Contemporary Literary Criticism, vol. 1, in the Maugham entry, which I mentioned in an earlier post. Its title is deadly fascinating and it certainly lives up to its expectations.

No sarcasm is intended in my last comment. It is indeed an interesting book, full of humour, if you know …

The Land of Promise (1913) - W. Somerset Maugham

The Land of Promise. A Comedy in Four Acts (London: Heinemann, 1922)
The Land of Promise is a play by W. Somerset Maugham, written after his trip to the Western prairies of Canada in 1912, especially for gathering materials after the insinuation of Charles Frohman, who wanted his most popular dramatist to write something along the line of Taming of the Shrew. [1]

The play was first produced on 26 February 1914 at the Duke of York's Theatre. The first and second editions, for copyright purp…

One Hundred Best Books - John Cowper Powys

Powys, Cowper John. One Hundred Best Books With Commentary and an Essay on Books and Reading. New Delhi, Isha Books, 2013.
This brief post is about a little curious book that came to my hand. Modern readers would not be unfamiliar with listmania; this list was originally published in 1916 by the literary critic of the time. Not unusual at his time, naturally he was not only a critic, but also novelist, poet, lecturer, and philosopher.

I do admire people who are willing and are able to make …

The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham – Advance Proof State

The Painted Veil (London: Heinemann, 1925. Advance Proof State)
The private owner of this proof in the United States very generously let me show these photos of the advance proof state of The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham.

The Painted Veil must be the one with the most complicated publication history among Maugham's works. During the printing of its first UK edition it went through several states of correction.

Technically speaking, the true first edition is the US one, with a limit…