Good news to come

Hello,

Glad to see people still visit me here. Merci pour visiter mon blog! I'm almost done with my NEW Maugham collection, which is better than my previous ones. This is the third (and last!) variation of my Maugham collection I'm putting together with some of the first editions from my previous collections. I seem to be in a more stable position financially so I won't be selling ever again. One book I did lose in my last sale was "The Merry-Go-Round," but that's okay. I lost my presentation copy of "The Explorer" also, but I just couldn't justify to myself spending the kind of money I did on that particular title. I'm not rich, and I in fact originally come from the lower-middle class here in America, and possibly what you might call working class in the rest of the world. I believe this is why I get so frustrated in the postal system after purchasing an expensive Maugham first; because money has such value to me (having worked for it) I want my book very, very quickly, and the postal system in America and in England just can't keep up. Books get delayed for no apparent reason, or they get held up in customs, book -sellers take the money you gave them for expedited shipping but ship regular media mail, etc.

Once my new and final Maugham collection is complete, in a couple of weeks, I'll start fresh with this blog. I'll post photos of each book in chronological order of their release and amuse you with anecdotes. In fact, it will be much in the style of Maugham's "Purely For My Pleasure."

A bien tot. I hope you come back.

Michael

"The Merry-Go-Round" (1904). LOST then FOUND!!!

What a harrowing thing it is when upon arriving home from a foreign country (particularly one that has only just recently raised up from Third World country status) you realize you left something behind that you cherish. Last November (2014) I went to Seoul, South Korea. I brought some shirts I really loved, some other things, and oh yeah my true 1st edition, 1st printing of "The Merry-Go-Round" (1904). I'll admit my mind was in a muddle upon leaving - I really just wanted to get home - and in my haste I left a couple of shirts (my two favorite ones) and The Merry-Go-Round at the hotel. My wife also left her purse there with a few hundred dollars in it. We arrived home. After making phone calls, or rather asking my wife's extremely busy uncle to call the hotel we realized it was useless: the purse, the book, and the shirts were gone; so much for Korean Christian honesty. I handled it well, because once I know something is useless to go after I become resigned to the facts. I let a couple of months go by. I finally remembered the name of the hotel (we were put up in it by my wife's uncle so I never even bothered or even needed to know the name). I sent them a message through my wife's e-mail account from which was the only way to get an immediate response (it's a Korean thing). They wrote back saying they found nothing, and that even if they did they would have only held it for 30 days. I distressed over the fact that my book was either stolen or, even worse, in a landfill somewhere in Korea. So I took to the internet to find another copy. At the time I bought it a year prior to losing it, there were 3 copies available on various websites. Well I know that at least from March of '15 until just under a week ago there were absolutely NO copies available. In March I settled for a 1960's Heinemann collected edition reprint, ruefully thinking for most of the year that it was the closest thing I'd find, and that 1st edition, 1st printings of "The Merry-Go-Round" just vanished from the market forever.

Then I found this one just a few days ago. I of course immediately bargained the price down a bit and got them to include priority mail for free. And now here it is! Finally! My Maugham collection is complete!* Note the press reviews for Maugham's previous novel "Mrs. Craddock" (1902).

 

"The Lotus Eater" LP Read by Alan Howard

There are a couple of LP's out there of Maugham himself reading some of his short stories - mostly ones that appear in "Cosmopolitans" (1936) - which Columbia Records put out in the 1950's. One LP contains the stories "Gigolo and Gigolette" and "Three Fat Women of Antibes," the other contains the stories "The Happy Couple" and "The Wash-Tub." In looking for these LP's (which I now own) I came across this one of "The Lotus Eater" read by an Englishman named Alan Howard.

"The Lotus Eater" is an interesting story about how beauty can bring a man to ruin, but also a more subtle reason for this man's (quite pleasant) downfall is a part of the man's history Maugham merely mentions in passing about the man's wife and daughter.

It's very pleasantly and engagingly read by Howard. I bought this LP months ago, but finally got around to listening to it today. It was well worth the $10.00 I paid for it.

"Orientations" 1st edition (1899)

In my first go 'round of Maugham collecting back in 2001, it seemed "Orientations" was THE rarest Maugham book to find. It was also most desirable to me considering I was introduced to Maugham through his short stories and was a short story writer myself at that time. 2001 internet for rare book collecting wasn't as facilitating as it is these days. In fact you can find a copy of this 1st edition pretty easily - either on eBay or ABE. I bought mine for just over $100 a few years ago.

HOWEVER, back in 2001 it was like a treasure hunt. I found none for sale but that Princeton University had one in their library. Public libraries here in the U.S. won't sell any specific book to a patron. That patron would have to wait and see if the book they want shows up at the annual book sale, where the libraries shed certain books that haven't been borrowed in years, possibly decades. [Of course some these old books they keep for credibility.] Some university libraries are a different story. They view your offer as a contribution or donation to the University. Yale has some great early Maugham firsts.

Princeton was not one that accepted 'donations' for rare books. So, back in 2001 I drove all the way down to the University one night. I had a casual female friend at the time who was getting her master's degree there. She had convinced me to steal the book with her help - she said people do it all the time. [She would have taken the book out, then at the end of the semester would say that she had lost it.] But I backed down, embarrassed by my obsession with this book. We had a fancy dinner then I had a very long snowy commute home that night.

There is nothing on the front cover of the true first. My copy is a bit rough at the top of the spine. The adverts and the All Rights Reserved notice in parenthesis is what you should look for on a first from T. Fisher Unwin. Note that they didn't capitalize the word Reserved.

Great deal for "East of Suez" (1922) 1st edition, 1st printing

Just a quick note about a listing I saw on ABE. The bookseller is an old friend of mine. His actual store (which no longer exists) was where I (or my mother) bought all my books growing up. He has a true 1st, 1st of "East of Suez" (1922) for $25. Excellent price!
 http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=maugham&sts=t&vci=796033&x=70&y=11

Lady Frederick

This post is about the very important Maugham play, "Lady Frederick" without which this blog wouldn't exist. In 1907 after the novel "The Bishop's Apron" (1906, Chapman and Hall) failed to be a hit, and after Maugham was at the last of his money, he was going to quit writing. He was getting ready to take some brush-up medical classes and become a doctor, which is what he was trained and certified to be. Well, Fate had other ideas. A stage producer had to cancel the play he was to bring out that 1907 season and was rummaging through a myriad of manuscripts sent to him by literary agents. Among those was, of course, "Lady Frederick". He put the play on. He figured it would just be temporary until the former play got worked out. It became a huge hit. And this is how Maugham became famous. He then had 4 hit plays running in London at the same time. His old publisher William Heinemann published the novels "The Explorer" (January 1908) and "The Magician" (October 1908). The rest, as they say, is history. If it weren't for "Lady Frederick" none of us living would have ever heard of  W. Somerset Maugham. This is why I chose to purchase a true first edition of this play. While it was performed first in 1907, it wasn't published in book form until 1912. Only 500 were printed! This one was on eBay for a very long time, surprisingly. It was for a decent price, at $120. Luckily, for me, it was still available at that price. I just received it recently.

Tellers of Tales

I just purchased the 1st edition with dust-jacket of  the "Tellers of Tales" anthology put together with commentary, if I remember correctly, by Maugham. I paid $8.99. I had a copy of this book a long, long time ago which I bought at a Public Library book sale for $1.00 with no dust-jacket. Well, imagine my shock at the prices I saw on eBay and ABE! The cheapest one on eBay is without a dust-jacket and in horrible condition for $7.00. There are currently four listings on eBay with the dust-jacket for $65, $143, $195 (!!!), and $199 (!!!!) respectively. The cheapest one on ABE is $30. I found mine on good ol' Amazon. There is another cheap 1st, 1st with dust-jacket for sale at Powell's Books for $10.50 though they describe the dust-jacket as 'in poor shape'.