The Magician 1909 Duffield & Company

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Record Number MMC_N_M1909DC
Title The Magician
Creator W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965)
Genre / Form Novel
Publisher New York : Duffield & Company
Date February 1909
Language English
Physical Description p. [iii] half-title, p. [iv] blank, p. [v] title, p. [vi] copyright, p. [1] fly-title, p. [2] blank, pp. 3-310 main text | 19.5 cm | hardcover
Identifier - Edition 1st US
Identifier - Cover Colour (Approximate) #1C3A3C (Te Papa Green), with decoration, hard
Identifier - Dust Jacket No
Identifier - Other Catalogues Stott A11c
Description - Characters Arthur Burdon
Dr. Porhoët
Margaret Dauncey
Susie Boyd
Oliver Haddo
Warren - painter
Jagson - painter
Marie - waitress at Chien Noir
Mr. O'Brien - painter
Rouge - illustrator
Madame Rouge - Rouge's mistress
Madame Rouge's mother
Madame Meyer - mistress to a landscape painter
Raggles - painter
Clayson - American sculptor
Description - Plot Summary Set in Paris; Arthur Burdon arrives to visit his fiancée Margaret Dauncey, who has gone there to study art, chaperoned by Susie Boyd, a typical Maugham character, cold and detached observing people and life in general with a heart of gold. However, she is also slightly different, because she gets emotionally involved towards her friend's fiancé Arthur. They meet Oliver Haddo, a repulsive obese big mouth who can talk well nevertheless, and somehow he seems to follow them around.

The subject is magic and necromancy, with a minor character Dr. Porhoët, researcher also in necromancy, to counter the black arts of Haddo. After a very well-described humiliating scene in which Arthur thrashes Haddo like a dog, the latter (Haddo, not the dog) takes his revenge by mesmerizing Margaret to yearn for him uncontrollably and thus stealing Arthur's love of his life. Then the narrative plunges into the mysterious.
Notes Maugham revised the US edition of The Magician, the textual difference doesn't appear in other editions.
Subject Magic -- Fiction.
Paris (France) -- Fiction.
Cost US$18 in 2015
US$1.50 in 1909
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