ORIENTATIONS.
[inscribed in June 1899] London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1899. Original dark green cloth. First Edition of Maugham's third book, following LIZA OF LAMBETH and THE MAKING OF A SAINT. It is his first collection of short stories (six) -- two of which ("A Bad Example" and "Daisy") were his first ever written, at the age of eighteen. We have had another copy of this book in which Maugham (much later) inscribed, "a book of stories written before I knew how to write them!".
ORIENTATIONS was published as a volume in Unwin's six-shilling Green Cloth Library, just like three of Joseph Conrad's first four books. 2000 copies were printed, but that includes copies for the colonial library and many that were remaindered (third binding below). For ORIENTATIONS Toole Stott identifies three binding states ("Kendal" green lettered in gilt, very similar "Lincoln" green lettered in gilt, or olive green lettered in black); he also identifies two issues (top edge gilt with other edges rough-trimmed, or all edges trimmed (no gilt) and thus almost half an inch shorter). Toole Stott is ambiguous as to how the binding states and the edge treatments might be related, though he does say about the primary two colors of green "These two shades of green may well have been used simultaneously; I can find no evidence that one preceded the other."
In any event, this copy is in green cloth lettered in gilt (binding "i" or "ii"), and is of the first issue (top edge gilt). Condition is very good-plus (very minor wear at some edges, a few faint scrapes, slight cracking of the front endpaper). Toole Stott A3a (there was no American edition). Provenance: discreet bookplate of the major Maugham collector Craig V. Showalter.
This copy is inscribed by Maugham in the month of publication -- in fact on the same date he inscribed the dedication copy -- "To | The President | of the Ah Ho Club, | J.A. Barnes Esq | I, | Its Humblest Member, | Present | This Book. | W. Somerset Maugham | June 12, 1899." During the years 1892-1897 Maugham had been a medical student at St. Thomas's Hospital in Lambeth (and during his last two years there, he wrote LIZA OF LAMBETH); one of his classmates (and in 1898 Asst. House Surgeon, and later a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons) was J.A. Barnes -- the recipient of this faux-formal inscription. (We have not been able to learn anything about the "Ah Ho Club," but would guess it was a social club at medical school; Barnes and Maugham may have been the only two members!). Item #15917
Price: $1,950.00