THE RAZOR'S EDGE by Maugham, W. Somerset - 1944

1944. A Novel. London / Toronto: William Heinemann, (1944). Original dark blue cloth, with dust jacket. First English Edition of one of Maugham's major novels. W. Somerset Maugham turns to a religious theme and tells the story of a young American's quest for a faith. In Larry Darnell he has created one of his most radiant and appealing characters. Darnell, impelled by what he has seen of death in the war, renounces his fiancee, Isabel Bradley, and the opportunity for wealth and position to seek knowledge and a faith above and beyond human mortality. His search takes him all over the world and reaches its climax in India, where he attains the experience of the Absolute... It is the story of a man who achieves the absolute purification of his soul, superhuman wisdom, and an impregnable faith which gives him power over the material world. As a record of the journey of the human spirit, it stands with OF HUMAN BONDAGE as one of the great English novels of our time. [from the American dust jacket] The English edition was preceded by the American edition by about four months. This is a near-fine copy of this cheaply-produced wartime book (covers slightly dusty, faint bend in the flexible front board); the jacket is very near-fine as well (very minor soil, minor ruffling at the spine-head; the jacket's spine has very little of the usual fading). Toole Stott A63c.