An autographed letter from the writer Somerset Maugham

William Somerset Maugham is a British writer, one of the most successful novelists of the 1930s, the author of 78 books, and an agent of British intelligence.

During the First World War, he collaborated with MI5, and was sent to Russia as an agent of British intelligence in order to prevent it from withdrawing from the war. I arrived there by steamer from the USA, to Vladivostok. He was in Petrograd from August to November 1917, and repeatedly met with Alexander Kerensky, Boris Savinkov and other political figures. After the failure of his mission in connection with the October Revolution, he left Russia via Sweden.

The work of the intelligence officer was reflected in the collection of 14 short stories "Ashenden, or the British Agent" (1928, Russian translations — 1929 and 1992).