jonkers rare books
i n t r o d u c t i o n
The letters Sylvia Plath wrote to Ted Hughes are the greatest literary love letters that have been offered for sale since Robert and Elizabeth Browning’s in 1913.
Like those of the Brownings, Plath’s letters to Hughes cover a relatively short period of time, contained to just the October of 1956, and represent their only extended separa- tion from each other during their relationship. They had planned to live apart for the entire academic year but, as the letters show, the pain of detachment so early in their married life reached a pitch that was too high to bear, and late on the night of October 23 rd Ted travelled to Cambridge to be with Sylvia. The significance of the letters is impossible to exaggerate. Nevertheless, it may be stat - ed that the letters mark, in turn, their first separation since their marriage, the conse - cration of a new poetic and prose style, and the genesis of the publication of The Hawk In The Rain . These events and their record, covering scarcely more than three weeks of their lives, provide the backdrop for an unfettered insight into the minds of two of the century’s most talented and important writers. The whole scope of Plath’s life is covered, from mundane college social events and pulling an all-nighter to finish a paper on Augustine, to heightened creativity and viv - id literary criticism. The letters are written with a passionate honesty, baring herself and her emotions to Hughes unfiltered. One letter still holds her tear stains. Leading poets are derided, her dreams are revealed and all the while there is Plath’s confessed inability to live apart from Hughes. And while the letters can veer into sentimentality, Plath’s thoughts are expressed poetically and don’t succumb to the cliché that charac- terises much contemporary discussion of her life and her work. The letters are just some of the exceptional items we have bought in the last few years from the Hughes family. The other material, including inscribed books and photo- graphs, is offered in the second part of the catalogue.
Tom Ayling Henley on Thames, September 2021
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