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This is a catalogue of my private collection. I am building it for two reasons:

  1. I have completed the collection of Maugham's major works, which, in itself, is substantial, with over a hundred items. Some organization has become necessary.
  2. At times I find it hard to identify a volume correctly with the means available, and thus this catalogue aims at making this process easier for anyone who is interested in Maugham's bibliography.

I have given a record number for each item, formulated by a hierarchical classification that is intended to be easily memorable and comprehensible:

Thus, the record number of the first edition of Liza of Lambeth would be: MMC_N_LL1897TFU.

I have opted for the genre separation of Novels (N), Short Stories (S), Plays (P), and Non-Fiction (NF) because they are conventional and uncontroversial (at least in this case), instead of Fiction and Non-Fiction, although it would make a nicer dichotomy and adhere more to standard, probably. My scheme makes it easier to categorize Short Stories and Plays, eliminating the necessity to go through another hierarchical order from Fiction.

Acknowledgement

As always, Stott is my authority. I will refer to his record numbers (when available), as for other catalogues, I have consulted Rothschild's (A Bibliographic Catalogue of the Loren & Frances Rothschild William Somerset Maugham Collection. Los Angeles: Heritage Bookshop, 2001) and Moore's when necessary, but I won't give their record numbers (available in Rothschild's). If there is something of note, I will put that in Description.

I am always puzzled by Stott's colour description. Now in a different age, I think I can be more specific, not only with the actual picture of the cover or dust jacket, but with colour codes. I consult HTML Color Codes and chir.ag.

I consult Worldcat for the subject headings used.