Property from the Robert S Brown Collection
Maugham, William Somerset Autograph letter signed ("W. Somerset Maugham"), a lengthy missive to his literary agent William Morris Colles, with a copy of Liza of Lambeth
7 pp. (219 x 137 mm) on 2 bifolia, "Via Frattina 119... Roma," 28 October [1898], stamped in purple on the first page "Received 31 October 98"; horizontal folds, a bit of thumbsoiling and toning, pinprick losses to a few corners, first page marked "234" in blue crayon.
[With] Liza of Lambeth. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1897. 8vo. Half title, 6pp. publisher's ads at rear. Green publisher's cloth, front cover gilt-lettered, gilt design of Coster girl, signed "H. B.," within gilt rule, spine gilt-lettered, rear cover lettered and with publisher's device in black; endpapers browned and chipped, covers lightly soiled, bookseller's description tipped in at front. Housed in a leather-backed slipcase with folding cloth chemise.
A lengthy autograph letter from Maugham at the outset of his literary career, together with a first edition of the author's first novel.
In this illuminating letter, Maugham writes to his literary agent William Morris Colles on several matters related to his career and professional entanglements. He touches on the apparent successes of his first two novels, referencing both Liza of Lambeth, published by T. Fisher Unwin in 1897, and a forthcoming second edition of The Making of a Saint, published the following year.
Notwithstanding these successes, his dissatisfaction with Fisher Unwin is made abundantly clear. He complains bitterly that Liza was not copyrighted in America, and tells Colles that unless he is legally bound to, he does not wish to continue working with Unwin on their old terms, “if you can get him to refuse the third book—short stories or otherwise—I shall be only too glad.” Maugham closes the letter with one final, humorous jab at Unwin: “The first time I saw Mr. Unwin he gave me some paternal advice + among other things he remarked that it was almost impossible to make a living out of literature. With him as a publisher I think he was quite right.”
With a copy of his first novel. He described Liza of Lambeth to his publisher as "the story of a nine days wonder in a Lambeth slum. . . It shows that those queer folk the poor live and love and love and die in very much the same way as their neighbours of Brixton and Belgravia, and that hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness are not the peculiar attributes of the Glorious British Middle Class, and finally it shows that in this world nothing very much matters, and that in Vere Street, Lambeth, nothing matters at all."
PROVENANCE:Stewart Kidd (bookseller's description tipped in)
Property from the Robert S Brown Collection
Maugham, William Somerset Autograph letter signed ("W. Somerset Maugham"), a lengthy missive to his literary agent William Morris Colles, with a copy of Liza of Lambeth
7 pp. (219 x 137 mm) on 2 bifolia, "Via Frattina 119... Roma," 28 October [1898], stamped in purple on the first page "Received 31 October 98"; horizontal folds, a bit of thumbsoiling and toning, pinprick losses to a few corners, first page marked "234" in blue crayon.
[With] Liza of Lambeth. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1897. 8vo. Half title, 6pp. publisher's ads at rear. Green publisher's cloth, front cover gilt-lettered, gilt design of Coster girl, signed "H. B.," within gilt rule, spine gilt-lettered, rear cover lettered and with publisher's device in black; endpapers browned and chipped, covers lightly soiled, bookseller's description tipped in at front. Housed in a leather-backed slipcase with folding cloth chemise.
A lengthy autograph letter from Maugham at the outset of his literary career, together with a first edition of the author's first novel.
In this illuminating letter, Maugham writes to his literary agent William Morris Colles on several matters related to his career and professional entanglements. He touches on the apparent successes of his first two novels, referencing both Liza of Lambeth, published by T. Fisher Unwin in 1897, and a forthcoming second edition of The Making of a Saint, published the following year.
Notwithstanding these successes, his dissatisfaction with Fisher Unwin is made abundantly clear. He complains bitterly that Liza was not copyrighted in America, and tells Colles that unless he is legally bound to, he does not wish to continue working with Unwin on their old terms, “if you can get him to refuse the third book—short stories or otherwise—I shall be only too glad.” Maugham closes the letter with one final, humorous jab at Unwin: “The first time I saw Mr. Unwin he gave me some paternal advice + among other things he remarked that it was almost impossible to make a living out of literature. With him as a publisher I think he was quite right.”
With a copy of his first novel. He described Liza of Lambeth to his publisher as "the story of a nine days wonder in a Lambeth slum. . . It shows that those queer folk the poor live and love and love and die in very much the same way as their neighbours of Brixton and Belgravia, and that hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness are not the peculiar attributes of the Glorious British Middle Class, and finally it shows that in this world nothing very much matters, and that in Vere Street, Lambeth, nothing matters at all."
PROVENANCE:Stewart Kidd (bookseller's description tipped in)
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