The volume contains 17 early short stories first published between 18, including the six from Orientations (1899). The Punctiliousness of Don Sebastian (1899) After his death his decision was overruled. Notorious for his scathing self-criticism towards his early works, Maugham never allowed the short stories he wrote before the First World War to be reprinted during his lifetime. Short Stories in Posthumously Published Volumes It too contains new preface that has nothing to do with Heinemann's edition. The Second volume - The World Over - was first published in 1952. It contains 30 pieces, in other words: all collections published between 19. preface which is one of Maugham's most important contributions to the theory of the art of writing short stories.
The First volume - East and West - was first published in 1934 and contains a 26 pp. The stories are the same and the order is again chosen by Maugham himself, but the prefaces are very different indeed. The First American Edition is quite another matter. Otherwise the two editions are identical, save for the word 'complete' being substituted with 'collected'. Few slight changes in the order and in the prefaces were made to accommodate one volume more. The edition in four volumes titled The Collected Short Stories is virtually identical with the Heinemann's. The stories are arranged in order chosen by Maugham himself and he wrote a new preface to each volume in 1951. The Heinemann edition is considered to be definitive. Reprinted later by Pan, Mandarin, Vintage.
Doubleday, 1952, 2 vols., First American Edition. Each one of these exactly the same 91 pieces: 84 from all collections save Orientations (1899) and the 7 pieces from the travel books just mentioned above. There are three major, multi-volume collections of Maugham's short stories. Mirage, Princess September and A Marriage of Convenience also appeared as The Opium Addict, September's Bird and The French Governor, respectively, in a volume titled The Maugham Reader (1950, Doubleday, with an Introduction by Glenway Wescott).Ĭollected Editions of Maugham's Short Stories Mirage appeared in under the same title (1929). In magazines Masterson, Mabel and Princess September were published as On the Road to Mandalay (1929), The Woman Who Wouldn't Take a Hint (1924) and The Princess and the Nightingale (1922), respectively. In 1939 it appeared as a pamphlet under the same title as well.Ī Marriage of Convenience is a rewritten version of the early short story with the same name that is reprinted in Seventeen Lost Stories (1969, see below). Princess September was first published as he Princess and the Nightingale in Queen's Dolls' House Library (1924). The titles given above are those used in Maugham's collections of short stories.
A Marriage of Convenience (Chapter XXXIV) In addition, there are seven short stories which actually made their first appearances in book form as parts of Maugham's travel books. The original volume Ashenden (1928) actually contained 16 chapters 15 of them were later merged into six long short stories one was omitted. Creatures of Circumstance (1947), 15 pieces. The Mixture as Before (1940), 10 pieces.ĩ. First Person Singular (1931), 6 pieces.Ĩ. The Trembling of a Leaf (1921), 6 piecesĥ.