This brief little book, published in 1956 by Klaus Jonas, will be of interest only to the rare collector who seeks to own every book ever printed about the famed British author, W. Somerset Maugham. It mainly consists of a 5500 word biographical sketch of Mr. Maugham, printed on 24 small (4.5 x 7") pages. The essay is accompanied by nine photographs of Maugham at home in his villa at Cap Ferrat in southern France. The most charming feature of the book is its two-page preface -- a letter from Maugham to Jonas, who apparently had asked his subject to pen some words about his writing career.

The biographical sketch chiefly focuses on Maugham as a personality; it mentions aspects of his travels, his career, and his wealth, but gives little attention to his literary works. It also reveals little that won't already be known to anyone who has read one of the Maugham biographies.

Contents of this small work are readily available elsewhere. The biographical sketch and the prefatory letter from Maugham were reprinted by Jonas in his 1959 "The World of Somerset Maugham." Likewise, the letter and most of the photographs were reprinted in Jonas' 2009 work "W. Somerset Maugham: The Man and His Work / Leben und Werk". (Unfortunately, the latter work also includes a German essay entitled “Der Gentleman non Cap Ferrat” -- a misleading title given that its contents are not at all the same as the sketch in this book).

Some historical information may be of interest. Klaus Jonas first wrote to Somerset Maugham from Berlin in the 1940s while gathering information for his PhD thesis, and maintained a correspondence and friendly relationship with him for decades thereafter. Following his emigration to the US, Jonas used his collection of Maugham material (books, photographs, newspaper clippings, and manuscripts) to establish what he called the “Center of Maugham Studies” at Rutgers University. The center was intended as a clearinghouse of information about Maugham and a resource for scholars who wished to publish on the great author. Jonas and the “center” moved to the Yale Library in 1955. This small self- published book is the first work that Jonas published under its auspices. ( )