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94. Ariel PLATH, Sylvia Faber, 1965. Uncorrected proof copy. 8vo. Original paper wrappers printed in black. A fine copy. [44172] £4,500 The rare uncorrected proof copy of Sylvia Plath’s Ariel. One of the most significant collections of post war poetry, written in the last months of the author’s life and edited by Plath’s husband, Ted Hughes. We have identified 17 corrections made between this proof copy and the first edition, including the replacement of ‘brawn’ with ‘prawn’ to p.57 and the passage ‘wrinkly and cleared’ becoming ‘wrinkly and clear red’ on p.82. PROVENANCE: From the library of English poet, Roy Fuller (1912-1991). 95. Mirror PLATH, Sylvia Privately Printed [The Tragara Press], 1966. First edition. One of approximately ten cop- ies. Single leaf printed on both sides. 128 x 203mm. A fine copy. [44501] £3,750 The rarest of Plath’s works, printed by Alan Anderson at his Tragara Press, “some ten copies only were produced, and given to friends” (letter from Anderson accompanying the copy now at Yale). Not cited in Tabor. The poem first appeared in The New Yorker in 1963 and was later collected in Crossing the Water. In a letter to collector Alan Clodd in 1972, Anderson claims he printed only “4 or 5 copies... and I have never mentioned its existence to anyone...” Another copy given to friends and Edinburgh booksellers, John Updike (now in the British Library) bears the pencilled note “6 copies”, and although eight copies are institutionally held, one is on vellum (printers own?) and two are possibly proofs with wider margins. This is the only copy we are aware of in private hands.
96. Birthday Letters HUGHES, Ted
Faber, 1998. Special edition. Number I of X copies reserved for the author, signed by the author, from a greater limited edition of 310 copies. Blue quarter cloth over pa- per boards with gilt lettering to spine, in a clear glassine dustwrapper. A fine copy [44519] £3,750 Copy number one of Hughes’ Birthday Letters with the ownership signature of Hughes’ daughter Frieda, to whom (together with his and Sylvia Plath’s son Nicholas) the book is dedicated. Written over a period of twenty-five years, all the poems in the book concern Hughes’ relationship with Plath. Hughes died nine months after the publication so when it was awarded the Whitbread Prize that year it was Frieda who collected the award on his behalf, reading out a letter in which Hughes had explained, “I had always just thought them unpublishably raw and unguarded, simply too vulnerable. But then I just could not endure being blocked any longer...” PROVENANCE: Frieda Hughes, Ted Hughes’ daughter.
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