Books

New York: George H. Doran Company, 1915. Very good plus.. Inscribed first US edition, first issue of this semi-autobiographical classic, which predates the English edition by one day; adapted for the big screen on three separate occasions. OF HUMAN BONDAGE was an early career work in which, "we have nearly all the motifs that reappear in the later Maugham," notes Alexander Boyle, including his habit of writing parts of himself into many of his books: OF HUMAN BONDAGE is certainly his most autobiographical. Its first film adaptation, pre-code in 1934, starred Leslie Howard and a very slinky and emotionally raw Bette Davis. It was Davis's first large-scale success, and though she was passed over for the Best Actress Oscar that year, the role established her as a star. This copy features interesting bookish provenance: Maugham inscribed it to Ohio bookseller Paul North, and it contains the bookplate of Wallace Hugh Cathcart, Cleveland bookseller, philanthropist, book collector, and…

Of Human Bondage is a novel by W. Somerset Maugham. It is a semi-autobiographical story about the life of a young man, Philip Carey, who struggles to find his identity and place in the world.