The Judgement Seat by W. Somerset Maugham



The Judgement Seat by W. Somerset Maugham

The Judgement Seat (London: The Centaur Press, 1934)


This post will look at what I would call a collector copy of a short story "The Judgement Seat."

The Judgement Seat - the Story


This is a strange book, in the sense that I am not quite sure why it was published by itself. So far I have not been able to locate its publication history. I stumbled upon it when I was browsing the catalogues.

There is not too much information about it in Stott. It is not listed as published in a magazine before. The first record is in its book form.

I could not find anything about the circumstance in which it was published in other books about Maugham.
Large print, it contains sixteen pages. It is a story about three people in a love triangle, who, instead of fulfilling their desire, sacrifice their love in order to be virtuous, hoping for salvation after death. However, it turns out that God is not too sympathetic and they are blown to nothingness when their case is examined. Very typical Maughamian sardonic humour.

The Judgement Seat - the Book


The Judgement Seat, Maugham signature and Frontispiece by Ulrika Hyde
The Judgement Seat - Signed Copy


This book is limited to 150 copies, all signed by both Maugham and the artist who did the frontispiece, Ulrica Hyde. I bought my copy not long ago: the first of the 150; a very pretty thing indeed.

The story was later incorporated in Cosmopolitans (1936) and is available digitally in the free ebook - short stories page.

Comments

  1. Aha,I have been watching this one on abebooks for a long time. If I remember right,this one costs £175.Anyway, congrats!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Sharmin! But I am a little lost about the air conditioner...

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment