For Services Rendered: A Play in Three Acts.

MAUGHAM, W. Somerset.

$850.00

Item Number: 133055

London: William Heinamann Ltd, 1932.

First edition of Maugham’s popular play. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title page, “by W. Somerset Maugham for Elsie Tritton.” The recipient, Elsie Tritton, was a noted collector and friend of Maugham‘s who introduced him to Alan Searle. A younger man from the London slum area of Bermondsey, Searle had previously embarked upon an affair with the writer Lytton Strachey. Maugham began a relationship with him after his companion Gerald Haxton died in 1944. In 1962, Maugham attempted to adopt Searle as his son and heir when he disowned his daughter after a financial dispute, but the adoption was annulled. Following Maugham’s death in 1962, Searle inherited £50,000, the contents of his Villa La Mauresque, Maugham’s manuscripts, and his revenue from copyrights for 30 years. Very good in a very good dust jacket.

For Services Rendered examines the effects of World War I on an English family residing in the small country town of Kent, near the cathedral city of Stanbury. The play which first premiered at the Globe Theatre on November 1, 1932 to favorable reviews. "An exceedingly powerful domestic drama, brilliantly acted and produced" (Daily Herald).