Sheppey: A Play in Three Acts.

First edition of Maugham's final play. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "The author's last play for Elsie Tritton W. Somerset Maugham." 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.