The Painted Veil

First English edition, second issue. 8vo., original blue cloth. London, Heinemann. 1925

Maugham's novel The Painted Veil had a difficult start in life, with two legal actions forcing changes in the text. The first complaint came during the book's serialisation in Nash's Magazine, and led to Maugham changing the names of the hero and heroine. The second, which came from the Assistant secretary of the Hong Kong Government, meant changing place names throughout, but by this stage the book had already been printed and partly distributed. The publishers recalled the books and went through the painstaking process of removing the pages on which the original place names appeared and replacing them with new sheets, reprinted with the amended text. These replacement sheets were pasted in by hand, stuck down to the stubs left by the excised pages.

A very good copy, somewhat shaken, cloth rubbed with some wear to head and tail of spine, slightly foxed. According to Stott (Maughamiana, 1950), the second issue can be distinguished from the first by the presence of 24 titles on the verso of the half title.