8vo. 6pp. publisher's ads at end. (A few marginal stains.) Original pictorial green cloth gilt, with a design on the upper cover by Henry Bishop (recased, original endpapers retained); morocco-backed folding case. Provenance: Adney Walter Payne (author's inscription); Sotheby's, 19 July 1979, lot 477; sold to Bertram Rota Ltd.; for the bookseller Barry Scott; acquired by the present owner from Maurice Neville, 11 September 1981; Craig V. Showalter (bookplate).

THE DEDICATION COPY OF THE AUTHOR'S FIRST BOOK.

FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE. INSCRIBED BY MAUGHAM TO ADNEY PAYNE: "Adney, with the author's love, 30 August 97, Written April May & June 96." Maugham met Payne as a student in Heidelberg, and the two were roommates—on and off—for nearly two decades, remaining close until Payne’s death in 1949.

ONE OF SIX COPIES PRESENTED BY THE PUBLISHER TO MAUGHAM (see Morgan, pp.32–33, 56). In his biography, Morgan records Maugham’s memory of this moment: “It was with pride that in the first one I put the name of a friend who had been the dear companion to my lonely youth.” Morgan suggests that this “companion” was either Wentworth Huyshe or Payne, though the evidence points strongly to Payne.
The two shared five sets of rooms between 1898 and 1917: “Payne had graduated in 1897 from the Royal Institute of Chartered Accountants and was called to the bar by the Middle Temple in 1899. He was away all day and Maugham had the flat to himself to work in. He was very good-looking, and Maugham claimed that when Payne was through with his girl friends he passed them on to him.” According to Maugham, one night each week was left free for him to conduct “sexual congress” with one of Payne’s former girlfriends.

Their bond endured even after Maugham’s success and extended absences from England. Upon returning to London, he often stayed with Payne and his wife, despite a difficult relationship with Mrs. Payne: “The years of close friendship during Maugham’s literary apprenticeship, when Payne read his early efforts and occasionally loaned him money, had formed too strong a connection to be easily dissolved by a hostile wife. When success came to Maugham, Payne helped him with his play contracts and tax problems and dedicated the first edition of Liza of Lambeth ‘To my good friend, Adney Payne.’” Stott A1a.