The Mixture as Before

The Mixture as Before

First edition (UK)
Author	William Somerset Maugham
Language	English
Publisher	William Heinemann (UK) Doubleday Doran (US)
Publication date	1940
Publication place	United Kingdom
Media type	Print
OCLC	1535145

The Mixture as Before is a collection of 10 short stories by the British writer W. Somerset Maugham, first published by William Heinemann in 1940.^[1]

In the foreword, Maugham writes, "When my last volume of short stories was published The Times headed their review of it with the title The Mixture as Before. This of course was meant in a depreciatory sense, but I did not take it as such.... The writer has his special communication to make.... [I]f there is in his personality a certain abundance he may continue for a long time to produce work which is varied and characteristic; but the time comes at last... when, having given what he has to give, his powers seem to fail.... He must be content, he must rejoice even, if a new work... shows no falling off; if, in fact, it can truthfully be called The Mixture as Before."