Klaus W. Jonas (1920–2016)

In 1950, Klaus Jonas published his “A Bibliography of the Writings of W. Somerset Maugham.” A book of ~118 pages, it was privately printed in a limited edition of 700 copies. As Jonas explains in the book’s Foreword, his bibliography was based in part on works that he discovered while working in libraries in England, Switzerland, and the US for his graduate thesis. However, he describes the bibliography as being based largely on works in the library of Karl Pfeiffer (a professor at New York University) as supplemented by his own library. He likewise thanks Somerset Maugham and his secretary Alan Searle for their “many contributions.”

This book largely consists of a chronological bibliography of the novels, plays, and short stories, with many details ("points") of value to the collector. However, the book also includes several other types of information of scholarly interest. These include (a) a list of introductions and prefaces by Maugham; (b) a list of books and magazines edited by Maugham; (c) typescripts of Maugham’s work deposited in the Library of Congress (Washington, USA); (d) books containing contributions by Maugham; (e) an index of short stories in magazines; (f) short stories published in French periodicals; (g) an index of translations of Maugham’s works; (h) articles published by Maugham in periodicals; (i) the varied locations of Maugham’s original manuscripts; (j) plays and novels based on Maugham’s writings; (k) books and periodical articles about Maugham; (l) films based on Maugham’s writings; (m) limited editions of Maugham’s works; and (n) the geographical settings of Maugham’s “exotic” (foreign) works (reflecting the subject of Jonas’ 1953 graduate thesis). Jonas’ book also includes a biographical sketch of Maugham that includes a previously unpublished letter that Jonas received from him in 1947, as well as a facsimile reproduction of a page from Maugham’s manuscript of “Strictly Personal,” compliments of Yale Library.

Because Jonas’ 1950 book was published the same year as Raymond Toole Stott’s Maughamiana: A Bibliography of the Works of W. Somerset Maugham, a comparison of the two books is useful. The two works overlap to a considerable degree, but each includes information that the other lacks. For example, for the novels and short story collections, Jonas’ book lists book dimensions and numbers of copies printed, while Stott’s gives information on cover coloration and has detailed notes on many of listings. In addition, Jonas’ book includes many types of information that are lacking in Stott’s, specifically several of the items listed above. Jonas published a brief 5 page addendum later in 1950 entitled More Maughamiana which listed items that had not been included in his and Stott’s books.

For four decades, Stott’s 1973 bibliography has been considered to be the definitive work in the field, one that supersedes all earlier such works. Although I have not compared the two authors’ works in detail, I suspect that Stott’s bibliography has largely rendered Jonas’ superfluous. However, Stott (1973) does not include the foreign translations listed by Jonas, and possibly omitted other information as well. Because Stott largely dismisses Jonas’ book (see below) and ignores Jonas' 1950 addendum, I can’t be sure that he drew upon Jonas' work in constructing his own bibliography. Therefore, a close comparison of the two bibliographies could reveal works that Stott did not include. Otherwise, however, one can consider Stott’s 1973 work to be by far the most definitive.

 
Addendum. Scholars and biographers may be interested in questions of which bibliography has historical priority and what the relationship is between them. In his 1976 book, Stott utterly dismisses Klaus Jonas’ 1950 book, stating “this checklist is almost wholly based on Toole Stott’s Maughamiana.” Stott makes a similar accusation in his 1956 bibliography. In academic circles, plagiarism (intellectual theft) is the most serious charge one can make against another individual, and one may wonder if Stott was justified. To my mind, he was not, although the issue is not clear-cut because evidence is scarce. Regardless, one can easily recognize an unspoken battle for priority in how the authors responded to each other's work.

Jonas had been studying and collecting the works of Somerset Maugham for three years before publishing his bibliography. He had conducted work towards his graduate work on Maugham in Europe of the post-war (WW2) period, including Switzerland and England. (Libraries in Germany had been devastated by the war). He came to the US in the summer of 1950, having secured a position to teach German at Mount Holyoke College, a prominent liberal arts institution for women.

Stott’s bibliography had been printed in England in January of 1950. Jonas published his own bibliography in early July of that year, as a self- printed work of limited quantity. By then he clearly was aware of Stott’s bibliography, given that he cited it in his own book. That Jonas’ publication was hastened by the existence of Stott’s work seems extremely likely. (After all, publication of a bibliography would hardly have been a priority for a newly- arrived immigrant who was still working on his graduate thesis and preparing for a semester of teaching. What's more, Jonas must have sought out a local printer soon after his arrival). That Jonas' book was rushed into print also is suggested by the author's description of his bibliography as “tentative.” He stated that he planned to reprint it in expanded form once he’d accumulated sufficient new material.

The US edition of Stott’s 1950 bibliography was published by Doubleday & Co. in August of 1950, one month after Jonas’ book. Late in that same year, Jonas published his five page addendum of works not included in the two books. Interestingly, by accident or design, Jonas omits mention of the earlier (January 1950) printing of Stott's work, leading the reader to believe that his own work was published prior to Stott's. The editor of the addendum corrects the omission in a footnote.

In no place did either Jonas or Stott describe the degree of overlap between their books, nor did either author acknowledge having found any useful information in the other's work. In comparing the two books, Stott’s has historical priority. However, Jonas’ book has much information that is lacking in Stott’s, and in that regard at least, can be considered an independent work.… (meer)

This 1950 paper is a five-page addendum to Klaus Jonas’ A Bibliography of the Writings of W. Somerset Maugham, published a few months earlier in 1950. The author presents in it a list of 76 items not mentioned in his previous bibliography or in Raymond Toole Stott’s Maughamiana published that same year. About half of the citations are to translations of Maugham’s books and short story collections into other languages. This addendum also includes Maugham’s contributions to anthologies and to periodicals, works of biography and criticism by other authors, and two unpublished PhD theses. The manuscript of the early precursor to “Of Human Bondage” is mentioned as having been donated to Library of Congress, but oddly, Jonas gets the title wrong. (He calls it “The Ordeal of Richard Carey” rather than "The Artistic Temperament of Stephen Carey.”) Published as a “separate” of Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, this short paper was bound as a separate work. It is available as a separately bound work in nearly 60 libraries in the US and a few in Europe.

A few small points are of historical interest from a scholarly standpoint. First, in this paper, Klaus Jonas implies that his book (published in July of 1950) was published a month earlier than the US printing of Raymond Stott's bibliography -- no doubt, to establish priority. Jonas was literally correct, but he conveniently did not cite the British printing of Stott's work, in January of 1950. The journal editor offers clarification in a footnote, indicating that Stott’s work actually was published in England seven months earlier than that of Jonas. More on this issue of priority (and possible difficulties between the authors) is described in my review of Jonas' A Bibliography of the Writings of W. Somerset Maugham.

Second, although Jonas indicates that he is preparing a larger edition of a bibliography, no such work was ever published by him. (Jonas' career soon turned in a different direction, with his work on Thomas Mann, and his securing of a faculty position at the University of Pittsburgh). Third, Jonas mentions having set up a “Center for Maugham Studies” at “100 Chester Circle” in Brunswick, New Jersey. A Google map search reveals that this is a residential address. Clearly, the so-called “Center” (which Jonas touted in his subsequent academic career) had an inauspicious beginning.

The low ranking given this work reflects the fact that it has largely been superseded by subsequent scholarship, notably Stott’s 1973 bibliography. However, Stott's book does not include translations of Maugham's work such as are included here. A close comparison of Jonas' works with subsequent bibliographies (including Sanders, 1970) could ensure that no relevant works have been overlooked.… (meer)

This brief little book, published in 1956 by Klaus Jonas, will be of interest only to the rare collector who seeks to own every book ever printed about the famed British author, W. Somerset Maugham. It mainly consists of a 5500 word biographical sketch of Mr. Maugham, printed on 24 small (4.5 x 7") pages. The essay is accompanied by nine photographs of Maugham at home in his villa at Cap Ferrat in southern France. The most charming feature of the book is its two-page preface -- a letter from Maugham to Jonas, who apparently had asked his subject to pen some words about his writing career.

The biographical sketch chiefly focuses on Maugham as a personality; it mentions aspects of his travels, his career, and his wealth, but gives little attention to his literary works. It also reveals little that won't already be known to anyone who has read one of the Maugham biographies.

Contents of this small work are readily available elsewhere. The biographical sketch and the prefatory letter from Maugham were reprinted by Jonas in his 1959 "The World of Somerset Maugham." Likewise, the letter and most of the photographs were reprinted in Jonas' 2009 work "W. Somerset Maugham: The Man and His Work / Leben und Werk". (Unfortunately, the latter work also includes a German essay entitled “Der Gentleman non Cap Ferrat” -- a misleading title given that its contents are not at all the same as the sketch in this book).

Some historical information may be of interest. Klaus Jonas first wrote to Somerset Maugham from Berlin in the 1940s while gathering information for his PhD thesis, and maintained a correspondence and friendly relationship with him for decades thereafter. Following his emigration to the US, Jonas used his collection of Maugham material (books, photographs, newspaper clippings, and manuscripts) to establish what he called the “Center of Maugham Studies” at Rutgers University. The center was intended as a clearinghouse of information about Maugham and a resource for scholars who wished to publish on the great author. Jonas and the “center” moved to the Yale Library in 1955. This small self- published book is the first work that Jonas published under its auspices.… (meer)