Scope and arrangement
This is a synthetic collection consisting of typescripts, manuscripts, correspondence, and legal documents. The typescripts and manuscripts include plays, short stories, novels, and other writings, as well as plays based on the author's works. Also included are agreements, forms, and statements from various theatrical agencies concerning the author. The correspondence consists of letters from the author, dating from [1897] to 1964, to Kate Mary Bruce, William Morris Colles, Violet Hunt, Edward Knoblock, Sir Edward Howard Marsh, Muriel Rukeyser, Clement King Shorter, Carl Van Vechten, the literary agency of A. P. Watt and Son, and others. Other letters, relating to the author, date from [1921] to 1956; the correspondents include Ian Fleming, Robert Graves, A. P. Watt and Son, the literary agency James B. Pinker and Son, and others. There are letters to Maugham from Shah Agha Khan, Felix Ferry, and Sir Stanley Unwin, dating from 1950 to [1954?].
The William Somerset Maugham collection of papers are arranged in three series: