SOMERSET MAUGHAM, William (1874-1965). The Razor's Edge, New York, 1944, 8vo, original buckram (lacks dust-jacket). FIRST U.S. TRADE EDITION, inscribed "For Madame André de Breyne, hoping she will enjoy this book. W. Somerset Maugham, June 22, 1944."

SOMERSET MAUGHAM, William (1874-1965).  The Razor's Edge. A Novel. New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1944. 8vo (197 x 140mm). Half title. Original black buckram, the publisher's device blindstamped on the upper cover, the spine lettered in gilt, uncut (some minor fraying to head and foot of spine, corners lightly bumped, inner hinges weak, without the dust-jacket). FIRST AMERICAN TRADE EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY, the front free endpaper inscribed, "For Madame André de Breyne, hoping she will enjoy this book. W. Somerset Maugham, June 22, 1944." The recipient of this presentation copy was Victoria de Breyne, MBE (1919-2023), Honorary Fellow and Benefactor of Keble College, Oxford. The first American edition of the novel preceded the first UK edition. "A formal triumph as well as a moving and enlightening study of human desires, agonies, triumphs" (Burgess Ninety-Nine Novels, 1984); "Maugham's last important novel The Razor's Edge, the title of which comes from the Katha-Upanishad, takes a mystical turn; its American hero Larry Darrell goes to India, stays in an ashram, and learns the value of non-attachment" (The Oxford Companion to English Literature, ed. Drabble, 1985); Stott A Bibliography of the Writings of W. Somerset Maugham A63b.