Books

First edition, Second Issue, First State. Octavo, pp289. Blue cloth covered boards with lettering to front board and spine in gilt and publisher's windmill device in black to lower front board. With the scarce original dust jacket, correctly priced 7s. 6d. net to the spine. The First issue, which was recalled following the threat of libel action by the Hong Kong Colonial Secretary, is very scarce with only 74 copies known to exist. This, the Second Issue, has had the text amended to remove references to Hong Kong, Happy Valley and The Peak. In this first state of the second issue, the title page is a cancel pasted onto what was formerly the half title, and all other textual changes are by way of cancelled leaves inserted. Despite the care taken to revise the book, Hong Kong is still present on p34 first line and p56 4th line. The Painted Veil, which is set in Hong Kong, is a story about Kitty Fane, trapped in a loveless marriage to a doctor, who has an affair with another man whom she eventually realises is deceiving her. It is a story of the discovery of her true self. The book has been filmed twice, most recently in 2006 starring Naomi Watts and Edward Norton. The book is in Very Good condition, spotted to the edges and prelims and with occasional spotting within, binding is tight and square, boards are bright and clean with un-faded gilt. The jacket is also in Very Good condition, a little edge wear and a small chip to the bottom corner of the spine, red ink somewhat faded to the spine. Overall a pretty copy. [Stott A33c].

'The Painted Veil' is a novel by W. Somerset Maugham set in the 1920s. It encompasses themes of love, betrayal, and redemption in the midst of a cholera epidemic in a Chinese mainland setting, focusing on the character Kitty Fane and her journey towards self-discovery and personal liberation.