MAUGHAM, W. SOMERSET. 1874-1965.

MAUGHAM, W. SOMERSET. 1874-1965.
2 Autograph Letters Signed ("W.S. Maugham" and "W. Somerset Maugham"), the first 1 p, the second 4 pp, both 12mo (conjoining leaves), n.p., n.d., to Mr. Andrews, one on Carlisle Mansions stationery, fold creases, minor spotting.

Maugham thanks the recipient for sending a book, adding that he would like to visit his friend in Capri. He mentions his one-time lover, John Ellingham Brooks, saying "Tell Brooks he is a villain not to have written to me." Aside from Brooks, there were a number of gay and bisexual men and women, mostly British, who took refuge in Capri after Oscar Wilde's conviction for "indecency" in 1895. Among them was an American, Vernon Andrews, who may have been the recipient of these notes. Andrews, whose mother had purchased the Villa Castello in Capri and lived there with Vernon and his sister Edith, translated the poetry of Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen from French into English. He died in 1920 during the worldwide flu pandemic.