THE LAND OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN. Sketches and Impressions in Andalusia.
[from Maugham to an early lover] London: William Heinemann, 1905. Original blue paper-covered boards with parchment spine. First Edition, which consisted of only 1,250 copies -- about half of which were remaindered. In 1898, the year after Maugham finished medical school (and wrote LIZA OF LAMBETH), he lived in Seville for eight months; there he jotted down "sketches and impressions" and by June of 1899 was shopping this manuscript around -- but found no takers for six more years (after the success of his 1903 play "Lady Frederick" had "relieved him of the necessity of ever again having to write 'for money'." [Stott]).
This is very "early Maugham," when he was still using his full first name on title pages; there was no American edition of this title until 1920 (and even then the book, titled ANDALUSIA, was actually printed in England). Of the three bindings employed, this copy is in the first (i) -- with a rounded parchment spine with larger lettering (e.g. the word "BLESSED" measures over one inch across); the second (ii) is the same with smaller lettering, and the third (iii) has a flat white-cloth spine with the same lettering as the second.
Condition is very good-plus, with (as usual) the parchment spine showing some mostly-natural discoloration; atypically, there is scarcely any wear to the edges of the paper-covered boards. Toole Stott A8.
This copy is inscribed by Maugham, "For Harry | from his friend, | W.M." as Maugham collectors know, his briefest inscriptions are generally his most intimate ones -- and that is the case here. "Harry" was Harry Philips...
One of his earliest serious affairs was with a pretty Oxford undergraduate, Harry Philips, for whom he had to compete, he said, with a series of richer admirers, who bought the young man with treats – ‘an invitation to some great house made him affectionate for a week’ – though Philips would later say that he left Maugham because ‘his cynicism distressed me & ... I found it difficult to live with someone who believed that no one did anything without a motive’ [Selina Hastings].
A year later, Maugham would dedicate THE BISHOP'S APRON "To Harry Philips". The volume also bears the discreet bookplate of Maughham collector Craig V. Showalter. Item #15925
Price: $1,250.00