8vo. Original black cloth, printed paper spine and cover labels (few faint spots to covers); dust jacket (extremities toned, spine ends chipped with losses, partly affecting letters near lower edge of front panel). Provenance: Messmore Kendal (1872-1959), American producer (notation on front panel "personal copy"); Lighthouse Books (note laid in, see below); Craig V. Showalter (bookplate).

THE DEDICATION COPY.

FIRST EDITION, SIGNED BY MAUGHAM on the dedication page. In a note laid in, bookseller Lighthouse Books describes purchasing this title from the widow of the son of Messmore Kendall: "During our transaction, she related that although both her husband and her father-in-law maintained large libraries, they considered these books to be among their most prized possessions." Kendall, the dedicatee, was a close friend of Maugham and his producer, who produced the New York production of The Letter in 1927, starring Katharine Cornell. In turn, Maugham dedicated his publication of The Sacred Flame. Stott A38a.