SIGNED BY W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM, LIMITED EDITION OF THE UNCONQUERED, ONE OF ONLY 300 COPIES

MAUGHAM, W. Somerset. The Unconquered. New York: House of Books, 1944. Octavo, original blue cloth. $1850.

Signed limited first edition, letter L of only 26 copies (out of a total edition of 326) signed by Maugham and specially designated for presentation or review, published the same year as The Razor's Edge.

In 1939 Maugham was approached by the Ministry of Information to write on the French war effort and toured the country for six weeks, the basis for his reportage in France at War (1940). Surprisingly, however, The Unconquered, published in the midst of the war, is "his only story with a World War II setting" (Morgan, 511). Maugham's tale of a French woman raped by a German soldier, and her tragic revenge, later inspired Scottish playwright Torben Betts' 2007 award-winning play of the same title. This is the first edition of the complete work. One of 26 signed and lettered limited edition copies (for author's presentation, publisher's presentation, review, or LOC copyright submission), issued alongside 300 signed and numbered copies, no priority established. Serialized in 1943 "in Colliers' Magazine in expurgated form" (Stott A63), later included in Creatures of Circumstance (1947). As issued without dust jacket. Stott A63; 49.

A very nearly fine signed copy.