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W. Somerset Maugham. The Painted Veil. William Heinemann, 1925.

Price: US$16.33 + shipping

Condition: Fair

Description: 1925. New Impression. 289 pages. No dust jacket. Blue cloth. Pages are moderately tanned and foxed throughout. Sticker to front pastedown. Clipping to front free endpaper. Thumb-marking present. Noticeable creasing to gutter. Cracking to gutters, with exposed netting. Boards have moderate edge-wear with bumping to corners and rubbing to surfaces. Soft crushing to spine ends. Visible tanning to spine and edges. White marks overall.

Seller: World of Rare Books, Goring-by-Sea, SXW, United Kingdom

W. Someset Maugham. The Painted Veil. William Heinemann, London, 1925.

Price: US$680.00 + shipping

Condition: Near Fine

Description: Heinemann, London, 1925. Hardcover. Condition. First Edition. A good first edition copy of this important novel, the cause of some senseless litigation. Maugham was forced to change several names. This copy, first state, with inserted author's note was first issue in a serial publication. A sound copy in original blue cloth lettered in gilt and black. This novel has been the base for movies for three times, the first with Greta Garbo as main character. The book was banned in colonial Hong Kong, thought to make fun of the Colonial Secretary. Ex libris Werner Zemp.

Seller: Lascar Publishing Ltd., Hong Kong, Hong Kong

MAUGHAM, W. Somerset. The Painted Veil. New York: George H. Doran Company, 1925.

Price: US$2600.34 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: First Edition. Octavo, pp289. Red cloth covered boards with title blind stamped to upper board and in gilt to spine. In the scarce original dust jacket, priced $2.00 net to the spine. This is the true first edition published on 20th March 1925 (5,000 copies), preceding the William Heinemann published English edition. Furthermore, this Doran edition contains the original language with references to Hong Kong, Canton, Happy Valley etc unchanged. The Heinemann edition was subject to a protest by the Assistant Secretary of the Hong Kong Government who objected to the setting of the story and it was recalled and the references changed to fictitious place names. The Painted Veil 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. VG+ book which has fading to the spine, some browning to end papers, in VG jacket which has minor wear to extremities, a small chip to top of spine and a scorch-mark to the front flap. Definitely scarce in the wrapper.

Seller: Picture This (ABA, ILAB, IVPDA), Sunningdale, United Kingdom

Maugham, W. Somerset [1874-1965]. THE PAINTED VEIL [with original dust jacket]. London William Heinemann Ltd 1925, 1925.

Price: US$2990.39 + shipping

Description: FIRST EDITION, SECOND ISSUE, FIRST STATE (with Tching-Yen for Hong Kong) 8vo. black cloth hardback, gilt titles to spine and upper board and black embossed device to upper board, in SCARCE original dust jacket. 289pp. A clean copy with no previous owners' markings or inscriptions. Dust jacket not price-clipped - price of 7s. 6d. net to dust jacket spine. Rear inner hinge a little stretched. A couple of tiny rubs to base of cloth spine. Dust jacket has small areas of loss to top and base with some creases and edgewear. Main title of spine to dust jacket faded but price, author and publisher still bright and legible. Overall VG in Good, Sound Dust Jacket. (Stott A33c - page facing title page lists 8 novels and 18 plays and with Tching-Yen for Hong Kong) ** Pictures available upon request, if not already displayed here.** The shop is open 7 days a week. Over 20,000 books in stock - come and browse. PayPal, credit and most debit cards welcome. Books posted worldwide. For any queries please contact us direct.

Seller: Chaucer Bookshop ABA ILAB, Canterbury, United Kingdom

MAUGHAM, W. Somerset. The Painted Veil. London: William Heinemann Ltd, 1925.

Price: US$3900.51 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: 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]

Seller: Picture This (ABA, ILAB, IVPDA), Sunningdale, United Kingdom