jonkers rare books
ted hughes’s copy
22. The Bell Jar Heinemann, 1963.
First edition. Original black cloth, lettered gilt, in the pictorial dustwrapper by Thomas Simmonds. Ted Hughes’s copy with his ownership signature to the front endpaper. A very good copy indeed, in the very good, bright dustwrapper, rear panel marked and some rubbing and creasing to extremities. [41606] Sold An exceptional association copy of Plath’s only novel, bearing the ownership inscription of her husband Ted Hughes. The Bell Jar was published under a pseudonym on January 14th 1963 to good reviews but little fanfare. Its second half had been deemed unsuccessful by American publisher’s and the novel would not become the bestseller that Plath hoped may be her salvation. Despite their estrangement, and the recent broadcast of Difficulties Of A Bridegroom, Sylvia invited Ted to Fitzroy Road for sherry on January 23rd to celebrate the novel’s publication. Hughes described the occasion, and his first sight of the book, in his unpublished poem ‘Trial’: “We toasted it. I admire the cover The dim, distorted image of a girl Dissolving in a Bell Jar... Was it then or through the following week You showed me the reviews. No pannings. No raves. So there it was. The novel had been written, And published, and here was the world’s response.” Aside from this visit, Hughes visited Plath and the children weekly in the period leading up to her death on February 11th. Beyond Plath’s own copy of the book, copies inscribed by her are unknown. On Monday Febru - ary 4th, she wrote to Elizabeth Compton, the book’s dedicatee, saying she was sending “a copy of The Bell Jar under separate cover”, but as biographer Heather Clark notes, “she never did”. Indeed, Compton didn’t receive her copy until after Plath’s death, when Ted Hughes gave it to her and remarked, “it doesn’t fall to many men to murder a genius.” Inscribed copies being all but unobtainable, this is as close and as significant as association copies of The Bell Jar get. PROVENANCE: Ted Hughes (1930-1988) ownership signature; Frieda Hughes (Hughes and Plath’s daughter).
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