OF HUMAN BONDAGE, FIRST ENGLISH EDITION, WITH A CARD SIGNED BY MAUGHAM LAID IN

MAUGHAM, W. Somerset. Of Human Bondage. London: William Heinemann, (1915). Octavo, 20th-century three-quarter red polished calf gilt, raised bands, brown morocco spine labels, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt. $2200.

First English edition of of Maugham's "longest and most ambitious" novel, with a card signed by Maugham laid in, handsomely bound by Bayntun.

"Maugham's longest and most ambitious novel, in which 'fact and fiction are inextricably mixed,' draws heavily upon the author's own youth, with circumstances and names scarcely altered" (Parker, 63). As early as 1911 Maugham "had retired temporarily from the theatre to work on his long novel, Of Human Bondage. He was to correct the proofs under the admiring eyes of Desmond MacCarthy in a small hotel at Malo, near Dunkirk; the two men were drivers in an ambulance unit for which they had volunteered at the outbreak of war in 1914… Of Human Bondage was published in 1915. It was less noticed in wartime London than in New York, where Theodore Dreiser reviewed it with enthusiasm. It remains Maugham's most impressive literary work, and by the time of his death [1965] was said to have sold ten million copies" (DNB). First issue, with misprint in line 4 of page 257. Bound without publisher's advertisements at rear of volume. Preceded by the New York edition, published by Doran, of the same year. Stott 14.

Some minor spotting to text, spine labels toned, binding fine and attractive.